NAYAJO 


AND   HIS 


BLANKE' 


U.   S.  HOLLISTLR  ? 

DENVER,       COL 


COPYRIGHT  190},  BY  U.  S.  HOLLISTEK. 


THE    PRINTING    AND    THREE-COLOR    WORK    BY 
THE    UNITED   STATES   COLORTYPK  CO. 

AND 

HALF-TONE    WORK    BY 

THE    WILLIAMSON-HAFFNER     ENGRAVING     CO. 
DENVER,   COLORADO 


CONTENTS 


£99 


INTRODUCTION 

"THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  INDIAN"  (Sprague).  -      »3 

THE  RED   MAN  .  17 

A  SUMMER  DAY  IN  NAVAJO  LAND  21 

THE  NAVAJO  LAND 

THE  NAVAJO      . 

HABITATIONS     . 

THE  BEGINNING 

ANOTHER  STEP 

THE  BLANKET    . 

CONCLUSION      . 


514 


LIST    OF    ILLUSTRATIONS 


COLORED    PLATES  FAC,NG  PAGE 

PLATE  I       — One-half  of  a  Navajo  ' 'Squaw-dress"  of  the  period  between 

1840   and    1860  29 

PLATE  II    — An  old  example  of  Navajo  work  in  pink  bayeta,  native  dyes, 

made  about    1850  ^ 

PLATE  III  — An  old  blanket  of  native  wool  in  natural    colors   and    native 

dyes    -  67 

PLATE  IV  — A  curious  and  rare  old  blanket  of  sacred  significance,  woven 

about    1845  87 

PLATE  V     — A   modern  rug-blanket,  made  in    1891  93 

PLATE  VI  — An  old  specimen  bearing  the   Head   Chiefs    emblem,  of  the 

period  of  1865  103 

PLATE  VII — A  valuable  old   bayeta  blanket  made  about    1840  -    113 

PLATE  VIII — A  combination  of  bayeta  and   Germantovvn  yarn  -    117 

PLATE  IX  — A  Navajo  beauty,  wholly  of  German  town  yarn,  about  twenty- 
five  years  old  123 

PLATE  X     — Another  fine  example  of  Navajo  weaving,  entirely  of  German- 
town   yarn  -    137 

ENGRAVINGS  PAGE 

"Homeward   Bound"  Frontispiece 

Portrait  of   the    Author  9 

Group  of  Navajos   Visiting  Santa   Fe  1 6 


LIST    OF    ILLUSTRATIONS—  Continued 

PAGE 

FIGURE     I — *     *      "in    most    characteristics    entirely    different    from    the 

aborigines  of  any   other  country"  17 

FIGURE     2 — *      *      "where    two    mountains    look    at    each   other  across  a 

canon"  2 1 

FIGURE     3— -A  Navajo  Summer  Hogan'  24 

FIGURE     4 —                "a  mountain,  mesa  and   valley   country"  27 

FIGURE     5 — A   Cliff  Dweller's  Sandal;   upper  and  lower  sides  31 

FIGURE     6 — A   Navajo  "Sweat  House"  38 

FIGURE     7 —  "he   struts   and   poses   in    great   style  until   he    scents 

his  mother-in-law"  41 

FIGURE     8 — Navajos  Worshiping  the  Elements  46 

FIGURE     9 — Navajo    Indians  Trading  5  i 

FIGURE  10 — A   Navajo  Silversmith  58 

FIGURE  11—  "may   be   almost  anything  that  can    be    considered    a 

.shelter"  65 

FIGURE  12 — A   Navajo  Winter  Hogan  68 

FIGURE  i  3 — A   More  Elaborate  Winter  Hogan  74 

FIGURE  14 —  "familiar  landmarks  today,  but  which   were   far  more 

populous  then   than   now" 

FIGURE  15  —  "At  San  Ildelfonso     *     *     he  built  the  first  church  in  New 

Mexico"  83 

FIGURE  16 — *  "there    was    then,    as    now,    a    Navajo    flock  in  every 

valley"  91 

FIGURE  17 — A  Navajo  Woman   Carding  Wool  100 

FIGURE  1 8 — A  Navajo  Woman  Spinning  Wool  i  i  o 

FIGURE  19 — A  Navajo  Weaver  120 

FIGURE  20 —                "the  young  Navajo   woman  in   her  bridal   array"  129 

FIGURE  21 — A  View  in   Zuni  »34 

FIGURE  22 — Navajos   Gazing   Upon   A    Railroad   Train  142 


INTRODUCTION 


\YiTii  the  passing1  of  the  North 
American  Indians  from  their 
nntive  condition  there  is  an  in 
creasing  interest  in  all  that  relates 
to  them,  to  their  origin,  and  to 
their  modes  of  life  before  they 
were  disturbed  by  the  influences 
of  advancing  civilization.  In  the 
sequence  of  events  it  will  not  be 
long  until  they  will  live  only  in 
history;  and  therefore,  realizing 
that  this  fate  awaits  them  in  the 
near  future,  we  are  collecting  and 
recording  all  information  we  can 
obtain  concerning  their  legends, 
traditions,  beliefs,  habits,  man 
ners,  customs,  and  handiwork,  and 

are  eager  to  witness  their  tribal  ceremonies  and  religious  rites  be 
fore  the  encroachments  of  the  white  man  bring  about  their  discon 
tinuance.  Every  fact  pertaining  to  their  lives  that  we  gather  and 
record,  and  every  article  of  their  production  that  we  obtain  and 
preserve,  will  be  of  value  to  coming  generations,  and  add  to  the 
stock  of  material  available  to  future  historians  of  this  remarkable 
race  of  men. 

Our  researches  along  these  lines  bring  us  into  contact  with 
the  structures  and  other  remains  of  those  strange  and  unknown 
peoples,  the  Cliff  Dwellers  and  the  Mound  Builders,  who  were  cer 
tainly  far  antecedent  to  our  Indians  in  their  occupation  of  our 


10  INTRODUCTION. 

country.  We  study  with  intense  interest  their  surviving  monu 
ments  and  other  evidences  of  their  presence  here  in  the  remote  past 
in  our  still  baffled  efforts  to  determine  who  and  what  they  were  and 
how  and  when  they  lived ;  and  treasure  their  lesser  relics — their  im 
plements,  pottery,  and  woven  fabrics — as  mementos  of  vanished 
races  who,  as  we  have  many  reasons  for  believing,  may  have  risen 
and  flourished  long  before  the  Christian  era. 

In  decorating  our  homes  with  fine  examples  of  our  Indians' 
barbaric  work  which  we  willingly  purchase  at  almost  any  price, 
we  gratify  our  love  for  curious  things  and  yield  to  our  fancy  for 
unusual  embellishments;  but  in  doing  so  we  may  also  be  building 
better  than  we  know.  Collections  of  the  implements  of  domestic 
use,  and  of  warfare,  and  of  the  clothing  and  ornaments,  made  by 
the  Indians  of  our  eastern  coast  in  the  time  when  our  Pilgrim 
Fathers  landed,  would  be  of  great  value  now ;  and  collections  as 
sembled  by  us  of  similar  articles  made  by  the  Indians  of  the  present 
day  will  be  hereafter  of  great  ethnological  and  historic  value. 

As  Indian  wars  have  gone  out  of  fashion,  present-time  products 
of  Indian  handiwork,  among  which  general  attention  is  divided,  are 
basketry,  beadwork,  buckskin  garments,  necklaces,  pottery,  and  the 
Navajo  blanket.  The  more  conspicuous  of  these,  and  toward  which 
the  greatest  interest  is  directed,  are  the  basket  and  the  blanket. 
Basket-making  covers  a  wide  range  of  territory,  the  art  being  prac 
ticed  by  many  tribes,  who  produce  an  almost  endless  variety  of  forms 
and  patterns.  From  Alaska  southward  along  our  western  coast 
and  in  the  Rocky  Mountain  region,  wherever  there  is  an  Indian  tribe 
or  clan,  we  may  find  the  native-made  basket  in  some  form  either 
for  utilitarian,  ceremonial,  or  ornamental  purposes. 

Among  primitive  people  everywhere  in  the  world  the  basket 
was  the  parent  of  textile  fabrics);  the  art  of  weaving  baskets  having 
preceded  that  of  weaving  cloth,  and  having  suggested  the  latter, 
among  all  races.  How  little  we  appreciate  these  early  efforts  of 
aboriginal  men  who  gathered  bark  and  twigs,  or  fibrous  leaves  of 


INTRODUCTION.  11 

plants,  and  formed  them  into  rude  receptacles  for  domestic  use,  and 
later  developed  the  rudimentary  art  into  one  producing  rough  cover 
ings  for  their  bodies !  In  the  fact  that  the  oldest-known  pieces  of 
pottery  bear  marks  of  having  been  formed  inside  a  basket,  we  have 
evidence  that  basketry  preceded  pottery ;  the  basket-covering  having 
been  burned  away,  thus  removing  the  mold  and  baking  the  pottery 
at  the  same  time.  It  is  difficult  to  realize  that  all  the  luxurious, 
beautiful,  and  useful  fabrics  produced  by  our  modern  looms  had 
their  origin  in  the  exceedingly  crude  basket-weaving  done  by  people 
living  in  a  state  of  barbarism,  if  not  of  savagery.  Collecting  and 
studying  Indian  baskets  possess  much  fascination  for  all  who  do  so, 
and  will  long  be  in  high  favor  among  lovers  of  barbaric  art. 

But  the  Navajo  blankets  are  peculiarly  attractive  to  those  who 
become  familiar  with  their  remarkable  qualities  and  very  interesting 
history.  Indeed  they  are  unique  among  Indian  products,  and  may 
be  said  to  stand  aloof  from  all  the  others.  Made  by  only  one  tribe, 
they  have  characteristics  that  no  other  people  try  to  imitate ;  and  at 
this  time  are  attracting  probably  more  attention  than  any  other 
articles  of  Indian  manufacture. 

My  interest  in  these  really  wonderful  products  of  the  simple 
looms  of  the  Navajos  dates  from  the  first  year  of  my  residence  in 
the  Rocky  Mountain  country,  and  has  remained  unabated  through 
the  twenty  years  or  more  that  have  elapsed  since.  During  this  period 
I  have  had  many  opportunities  to  learn  something  about  the  abor 
iginal  people  of  Colorado,  Utah,  New  Mexico,  and  Arizona,  having 
frequently  visited  the  wigwams  and  wickyups  of  the  Utes  and  of 
the  Apaches,  the  adobe  villages  of  the  Pueblos,  and  the  hogans  of 
the  Navajos.  Though  my  boyhood  years  were  spent  on  the  pioneer 
line,  and  among  my  earlier  recollections  are  those  of  Chippewa 
Indians  calling  in  bands  at  my  father's  house  in  southern  Wiscon 
sin  when  that  part  of  the  country  was  practically  a  wilderness,  1 
have  never  been  in  sympathy  with  those  who  think  "the  only  good 
Indians  are  dead  ones."  There  are  many  good  Indians,  and  also 


12  INTRODUCTION. 

many  bad  ones.  But  it  might  be  worth  while  to  remember  that 
not  all  white  men  are  good. 

For  some  material  used  in  the  preparation  of  this  little  volume 
I  am  indebted  to  Pike's  "Account"  of  his  famous  expedition,  Major 
Emory's  "Notes  of  a  Military  Reconnoissance,"  Governor  Prince's 
"Story  of  New  Mexico,"  and  to  the  Reports  of  the  Smithsonian 
Institution's  Bureau  of  Ethnology;  but  its  contents  represent  to  a 
greater  extent  the  results  of  my  own  observations  and  researches 
supplemented  by  information  received  from  many  good  friends  in 
the  Navajo  land. 

The  colored  plates  are  direct  reproductions  from  blankets  in 
my  collection,  while  the  title  page  is  by  that  conscientious  painter 
of  Indian  life,  Frank  P.  Sauerwen,  three  of  whose  pictures  appear 
among  the  engravings.  The  other  engravings  are  from  photographs 
by  P.  E.  Harroun,  Sumner  W.  Matteson,  Charles  H.  Goodman, 
Professor  George  H.  Pepper  of  the  Hyde  expedition  under  the 
auspices  of  the  American  Museum  of  Natural  History  (New  York), 
and  by  myself. 

During  the  years  in  which  I  have  been  interested  in  the  work 
of  the  Navajos  and  in  collecting  choice  examples  of  their  weaving, 
many  questions  concerning  these  people  and  their  woven  fabrics 
have  been  asked  me;  and  it  was  in  consequence  of  these  frequent 
inquiries  that  I  was  prompted  to  prepare  this  little  book.  While  it 
is  far  from  a  complete  presentation  of  the  subjects  with  which  it 
deals,  it  may  prove  of  value  and  interest  to  those  who  admire  and 
buy  Navajo  blankets;  and  to  them  it  is  respectfully  dedicated. 

U.  S.  HOLLISTER. 
Denver,  Colo.,  May,  1903. 


THE    NORTH    AMERICAN    INDIAN 

(SPRAGUE.) 

"Not  many  generations  ago,  where  you  now  sit,  encircled  with 
all  that  exalts  and  embellishes  civilized  life,  the  rank  thistle  nodded 
in  the  wind,  and  the  wild  fox  dug  his  hole  unscared.  Here  lived 
and  loved  another  race  of  beings.  Beneath  the  same  sun  that  rolls 
over  your  head,  the  Indian  hunter  pursued  the  panting  deer ;  gazing 
on  the  same  moon  that  smiles  for  you,  the  Indian  lover  wooed  his 
dusky  mate. 

"Here,  the  wigwam-blaze  beamed  on  the  tender  and  helpless, 
and  the  council-fire  glared  on  the  wise  and  daring.  Now,  they 
dipped  their  noble  limbs  in  your  sedgy  lakes,  and  now,  they  paddled 
the  light  canoe  along  your  rocky  shores.  Here  they  warred ;  the 
echoing  whoop,  the  bloody  grapple,  the  defying  death-song,  all 
were  here;  and  when  the  tiger-strife  was  over,  here  curled  the  smoke 
of  peace. 

"Here,  too,  they  worshiped;  and  from  many  a  dark  bosom 
went  up  a  fervent  prayer  to  the  Great  Spirit.  He  had  not  written 
his  laws  for  them  on  tables  of  stone,  but  he  had  traced  them  on 
the  tables  of  their  hearts.  The  poor  child  of  Nature  knew  not  the 
God  of  Revelation,  but  the  God  of  the  universe  he  acknowledged 
in  everything  around. 

"He  beheld  him  in  the  star  that  sank  in  beauty  behind  his 
lonely  dwelling;  in  the  sacred  orb  that  flamed  on  him  from  his 
mid-day  throne ;  in  the  flower  that  snapped  in  the  morning's  breeze ; 
in  the  lofty  pine  that  defied  a  thousand  whirlwinds;  in  the  timid 
warbler  that  never  left  its  native  grove;  in  the  fearless  eagle,  whose 
untired  pinion  was  wet  in  the  clouds;  in  the  worm  that  crawled 
at  his  feet;  and  in  his  own  matchless  form,  glowing  with  a  spark  of 


14  THE   NORTH   AMERICAN    INDIAN. 

that  light,  to  whose  mysterious  source  he  bent  in  humble,  though 
blind  adoration. 

"And  all  this  has  passed  away.  Across  the  ocean  came  a  pilgrim 
bark,  bearing  the  seeds  of  life  and  death.  The  former  were  sown 
for  you;  the  latter  sprung  up  in  the  path  of  the  simple  native.  Two 
hundred  years  have  changed  the  character  of  a  great  continent,  and 
blotted  forever  from  its  face,  a  whole,  peculiar  people.  Art  has 
usurped  the  bowers  of  nature,  and  the  anointed  children  of  educa 
tion  have  been  too  powerful  for  the  tribes  of  the  ignorant. 

"Here  and  there,  a  stricken  few  remain,  but  how  unlike  their 
bold,  untamed  progenitors.  The  Indian  of  falcon  glance  and  lion 
bearing,  the  theme  of  the  touching  ballad,  the  hero  of  the  pathetic 
tale,  is  gone !  and  his  degraded  offspring  crawls  upon  the  soil,  where 
he  walked  in  majesty,  to  remind  us  how  miserable  is  man,  when 
the  foot  of  the  conqueror  is  on  his  neck. 

"As  a  race,  they  have  withered  from  the  land.  Their  arrows 
are  broken,  their  springs  are  dried  up,  their  cabins  are  in  the  dust. 
The  council-fire  has  long  since  gone  out  on  the  shore,  and  their 
war-cry  is  fast  fading  to  the  untrodden  west.  Slowly  and  sadly 
they  climb  the  distant  mountains,  and  read  their  doom  in  the 
setting  sun.  They  are  shrinking  before  the  mighty  tide  which  is 
pressing  them  away ;  they  must  soon  hear  the  roar  of  the  last  wave, 
which  will  settle  over  them  forever. 

"Ages  hence,  the  inquisitive  white  man,  as  he  stands  by  some 
growing  city,  will  ponder  on  the  structure  of  their  disturbed  re 
mains,  and  wonder  to  what  manner  of  persons  they  belonged.  They 
will  live  only  in  the  songs  and  chronicles  of  their  exterminators. 
Let  these  be  faithful  to  their  rude  virtues,  as  men,  and  pay  due 
tribute  to  their  unhappy  fate,  as  a  people." 


>  i 


THE    RKD    MAN 


THE  North  American  Indian  has  a 
strong  personality;  an  individuality 
peculiar  to  himself.  He  is  in  most 
characteristics  entirely  different  from 
the  aborigines  of  any  other  country. 
Our  Indian  tribes  may  differ  in  de 
tails  of  habits,  but  they  are  remark 
ably  alike  in  general.  The  men 
greatly  dislike  manual  labor,  or  any 
thing  else  that  savors  of  drudgery. 
They  are  combative, — the  warrior  in 
stinct  being  strong  in  all  of  them. 
To  become  a  war-chief  was  the  high 
est  ambition  of  the  young  man  :  to  be 
recognized  as  a  great  warrior,  the 
highest  ambition  of  the  war-chief. 
Their  war-songs  took  precedence 
over  all  the  weird  and  uncanny  vocal  demonstrations  that  we  call 
Indian  song.  To  put  on  war-paint,  and  dress  in  the  paraphernalia 
of  war,  was  the  highest  gratification  of  their  sense  of  barbaric  pride. 
Their  legends  of  battle,  and  of  the  victories  won  by  their  prowess, 
are  among  the  more  important  of  their  stories ;  and  they  now  tell 
us  with  great  gusto  of  the  brave  deeds  done  by  their  people  "long 
time  ago." 

Fond  of  the  chase,  our  Indians  are  hunters  of  wild  game  almost 
by  instinct.  The  "cunning  of  the  fox"  is  met  by  the  craft  of  the 
hunter,  and  to  the  weak  trait  in  the  habits  of  animal  or  bird  appeal 
is  made  to  the  best  advantage  in  effecting  its  capture.  When  PCS- 


FIGURE  I —  ;:  "in  most  characteristics 
entirely  different  from  the  aborigines  of 
any  other  country" 


18  THE   NAVAJO  AND   HIS   BLANKET. 

sible,  they  seek  timbered  and  well-watered  regions  as  places  of 
abode,  and  are  cunning  in  woodcraft.  The  "four  winds,"  or  the 
four  quarters  of  the  compass,  they  know  from  the  incline  of  the 
oak,  or  by  the  moss  upon  the  rocks.  They  are  not  noted  for  ideal 
domestic  virtues,  and  regard  their  women  as  of  value  only  in  pro 
portion  to  the  amount  of  manual  labor  they  perform — to  the  extent 
that  they  lighten  the  burdens  of  their  lords. 

Indians  are  faithful  friends,  but  implacable  enemies ;  and  are 
imitative  of  the  white  man  chiefly  in  adopting  his  vices.  While 
not  disposed,  as  a  general  rule,  to  be  truthful,  they  can  be  depended 
upon  to  lie  to  a  white  man  who  has  lied  to  them.  On  the  other 
hand,  a  white  man  who  has  dealt  only  in  truth  and  fairness  in  his 
intercourse  with  them,  may  depend  upon  their  integrity  in  all  things. 
Therefore  the  white  man's  influence  over  them,  is  in  proportion 
to  the  reputation  he  has  established  with  them  for  regarding  truth 
and  honesty.  It  may  be  stated  as  a  rule  that  if  they  are  untruthful 
or  dishonest  themselves,  they  never  fail  to  respect  truth  and  honesty 
in  others.  They  are  in  no  sense  emotional,  and  anything  like  senti 
ment  is  entirely  foreign  to  their  nature.  Stoical  to  an  exasperating 
degree,  they  will  often  persist  in  wearing  a  stolid,  unchanged 
expression  during  one's  efforts  to  amuse  or  abuse  them.  This  is 
further  illustrated  by  their  temperate  manifestations  of  either  joy 
or  sorrow,  and  the  heroic  fortitude  with  which  they  endure  torture 
or  other  physical  suffering. 

All  of  them  have  some  form  of  religion ;  its  expression  being 
the  worship  of  natural  phenomena.  They  worship  the  elements; 
the  wind  and  the  whirlwind;  the  gentle  rain  and  the  mountain 
storm;  the  storm  clouds,  the  lightning  and  the  thunder;  the  stars, 
the  sun,  and  the  moon.  Birds  and  animals  are  also  objects  of 
adoration,  but  more  often  are  regarded  as  means  of  communication 
with  the  elements,  rather  than  as  creatures  to  be  directly  worshiped. 
They  bow  in  suppliant  mood  before  idols  of  crude  figures  of  stone 
or  clay,  or  rude  wood  carvings.  Their  altars  are  often  decorated 


THE    RED    MAN.  19 

with  the  feathers  of  birds,  and  with  plumes  of  grass  surmounting 
"sand  paintings;"  and  surrounded  by  baskets  of  sacred  meal  and 
corn.  Each  uncouth  figure  represents  the  element  with  which  they 
desire  to  communicate.  They  invoke  these  dumb  gods,  but  beyond 
the  mere  figure,  they  see  and  invoke  the  element  it  represents. 

For  instance,  the  Pueblo  Indian's  God  of  Rain  may  be  an  ugly 
mass  of  sunburned  clay,  representing  a  human  figure  holding  an 
olla,  or  water  jar.  While  they  pay  tribute  to  it  and  ask  that  rain 
may  fall  upon  their  sun-scorched  lands,  they  really  look  beyond  the 
image,  and  fix  their  attention  on  the  clouds  from  which  they  hope 
rain  will  come;  and  beyond  the  clouds  to  the  governing  Power 
of  the  universe. 

The  popular  idea  of  the  Indian's  worship  of  idols  is  not  entirely 
correct.  He  does  not  worship  the  idol,  but  that  element  in  Nature 
represented  by  the  idol.  We  venerate  the  cross,  not  because  it  has 
any  power  for  good  or  evil,  but  because  it  is  the  emblem  of  the 
crucifixion.  From  a  view-point  of  broad  charity,  we  cannot  deny 
the  Indian's  idol  a  place  among  the  emblems  of  a  world  of  wor 
shipers.  Who  is  competent  to  say  that  the  Indian's  worship  of 
the  grandeur  of  the  firmament  in  which  he  sees  and  recognizes  the 
power  of  an  Omnipotent,  is  not  as  proper  for  him,  as  our  worship 
is  for  us  in  any  of  the  many  ways  enlightened  people  do  so?  The 
Indian  has  many  idols :  we  have  many  forms.  Read  Prescott's 
"Conquest  of  Mexico, "and then  say  by  what  human  right  the  Span 
ish  murderers  of  the  peaceful  Aztecs  tore  down  their  idols,  and  in 
their  stead  erected  the  cross  literally  stained  with  the  blood  of  men 
who  died  defending  their  homes,  and  with  the  blood  of  helpless 
women  and  innocent  children.  If  the  broad  mantle  of  charity  be 
needed  to  cover  the  errors  of  the  Spanish  invader  or  those  of  his 
victims,  let  it  be  cast  over  the  former. 

While  the  Indian  is  not  an  ideal  being,  he  is  not  lacking  in 
many  good  qualities.  Stolid,  because  he  does  not  readily  compre 
hend  our  ways,  he  really  possesses  a  strong  mentality,  and  under- 


THE   NAVAJO  AND   HIS   BLANKET. 

stands  natural  phenomena  better  than  we.  He  is  not  given  to  much 
talk,  but  that  is  not  because  of  mental  weakness.  His  memory  is 
excellent,  but  he  may  often  seem  to  forget,  when  it  is  not  in  his 
interest  to  remember.  If  he  really  does  not  understand,  he  is  apt 
to  attribute  it  to  the  supernatural.  To  him,  everything  in  Nature 
partakes  of  the  sacred;  every  element  has  a  soul.  The  medicine 
man  is  his  preacher,  and  his  seer,  or  prophet;  and  is  expected  not 
only  to  cure  disease,  but  to  guard  against  it  and  against  all  other 
forms  of  evil;  to  ask  favors  of  the  supernatural,  and  to  advise  and 
direct  in  the  forms  of  worship.  Witchery  is  recognized,  and  con 
sidered  a  black  art,  and  condemned  to  the  extent  of  killing  the 
witches,  or  of  banishing  them  from  the  tribe.  Some  enlightened 
people  possibly  have  set  the  example.  We  do  not  know  whether 
the  Indian  believed  in  witchcraft  before  the  landing  of  our  good 
Pilgrim  Fathers,  or  not.  Let  us  not  draw  too  close  comparisons 
for  fear  of  the  result. 

In  conclusion,  let  us  admit  that  the  Indian  is  not  a  particularly 
lovable  being.  Possibly  he  will  be  when  he  learns  to  "love  his 
neighbor  as  himself."  For  many  generations  he  has  considered  the 
white  man  as  his  enemy.  Why  ?  Because  he  has  hunted  him  from 
his  native  land ;  cheated  and  robbed  him,  and  while  a  good  white 
man  was  trying  to  convert  him,  a  bad  one  was  plying  him  with 
vile  whisky.  Sacred  promises  have  been  broken.  He  has  been 
confined  to  barren  reservations,  forbidden  to  kill  game,  and  hedged 
about  by  the  white  man's  power;  baffled  by  the  white  man's  cun 
ning — a  cunning  far  deeper  than  his  own.  He  has  no  way  to  turn 
but  toward  the  setting  sun ;  no  voice  to  listen  to  but  the  voice  of 
Fate,  and  that  consigns  him  to  the  vale  of  extermination  and  says, 
"Good-bye!" 

"Alas  for  them!  their  day  is  o'er. 

Their  fires  are  out  from  shore  to  shore." 


A    SUMMER    DAY    IN    NAVAJO    LAND 


"An  angel,  robed  in  spotless  white, 
Bent  down  and  kissed  the  sleeping  night. 
Night  woke  to  blush  :  The  sprite  was  gone. 
Men  saw  the  blush  and  called  it  Dawn." 


SLOWLY  the  darkness  of  early  morn 
falls  back  before  the  shafts  of  a  rising 
sun.  The  keen  arrows  of  light  pierce 
its  mantle,  and  it  is  driven  fleeting  to 
the  west.  The  Sun  is  master  :  his  morn 
ing  rays  dry  the  earth.  The  vapor  rises 
from  the  streams  in  the  valley,  at  first 
in  little  threads  of  white,  like  smoke 
from  a  dying  camp  fire ;  then  gathering 
volume,  it  ascends  until  the  course  of 
the  stream  is  plainly  marked  by  a  pearly 

FIGURE  2 —    *  "where  two  mountains  white  drapery  that  curtains  the  bright- 
look  at  each  other  across  a  canon"  r    ..  t  ,  T        *i 

ness  of  the  new-born  day.  Lazily  ex 
panding,  and  growing  darker,  the  mist  assumes  the  form  of  threat 
ening  clouds,  and  these  float  up  the  canons  and  brush  against  the 
mountain  sides,  spraying  the  verdure  with  diamonds  of  dew,  and 
baptizing  it  in  the  name  of  the  glorious  Orb  of  Day, — the  Indians' 
"Father  of  All."  Then  they  whiten  again  as  they  are  bleached  by 
the  sun ;  and,  stirred  by  the  breeze,  go  tumbling  over  the  mountains 
like  great  fleecy  sheep  at  play.  Beautiful  in  contrast  with  the 
purple  haze  of  the  ranges,  the  azure  of  the  sky,  and  the  light  of 
the  morning,  yet  they  soon  separate  into  slender  strands  of  mist 
which  wander  off  into  space  and  are  lost. 


22  THE   NAVAJO  AND   HIS   BLANKET. 

And  now,  everything  is  bathed  in  golden  sunshine.  The  snow 
glistens  on  the  peaks;  the  odor  of  pine  and  of  cedar  fills  the  air; 
the  pure  ozone  tempts  the  lungs  to  full  expansion.  The  world  of 
wilderness  is  awake! 

And  this  is  Morning  in  Navajo  land. 

As  the  noontime  approaches,  the  sun  seems  to  pause  overhead, 
where,  in  a  dome  of  purest  blue,  it  glows  and  burns,  and  parches 
the  earth;  but,  under  its  influence,  the  valleys  have  revealed  their 
wealth  of  wild  flowers,  cactus,  sage  and  bright-leafed  shrubs,  that 
rival  the  barbaric  colors  of  oriental  drapery.  The  mountains  with 
their  gleaming  caps  of  snow  stand  out  in  strong  relief,  in  blue  and 
gray  and  purple  tints,  and  in  ever-shifting  lights  and  shadows.  An 
eagle  slowly  and  in  great  circles  soars  high  in  the  blue  sky.  A 
coyote  calls  to  his  mate  across  the  miles  between  mesa  and  mesa; 
or,  in  the  shade  of  a  cedar  naps  or  idles  the  day  away — a  lazy  vaga- 
l)ond,  waiting  for  the  night.  On  a  distant  trail,  a  Navajo  on  horse 
back,  watching  his  sheep,  shades  his  eyes  and  looks  across  the  valley 
into  the  vast  expanse  of  light;  and  in  the  distance  he  can  see  the 
smoke  from  the  hut  he  calls  home.  He  looks  at  the  grandeur  of 
the  whole  scene  through  the  rarefied  air  of  an  elevation  of  more 
than  a  mile  above  the  sea;  through  an  atmosphere  which,  acting 
like  the  lens  of  a  telescope,  brings  far-distant  objects  within  easy 
range.  The  great  panorama  of  mountain  and  plain,  of  mesa  and 
valley,  of  arroya  and  canon,  shaded  here  and  there  by  pine  and 
cedar,  dwarfs  every  living  thing.  The  stillness  is  the  stillness  of 
solitude ;  the  beauty,  the  beauty  of  Nature  undefiled. 

And  this  is  Mid-day  in  Navajo  land. 

As  the  afternoon  grows  old,  the  glare  fades;  and  the  sun, 
touching  the  rugged  horizon,  casts  long  shadows  across  the  plains ; 
and  then,  like  a  blazing  meteor,  drops  out  of  sight  behind  the  snow 
capped  mountains. 

Now,  turn  your  eyes  to  the  west  and  look  upon  the  glorious 
beauty  of  a  sunset  in  this  strange  land.  The  peaks  stand  out  like 


A    SUMMER    DAY    IN    NAVAJO    LAND.  25 

sentinels  guarding  the  retreat  of  day,  and  a  blaze  of  light  whitens 
the  sunward  side  of  those  to  the  right  and  to  the  left.  Fragments 
of  gathering  clouds,  floating  above  in  a  sea  of  azure  in  which  are 
blended  tints  of  gray  and  green  and  yellow,  are  rich  with  the  colors 
of  red  and  gold  and  scarlet  and  purple  which  shift  and  change 
before  our  gaze  as  the  misty  masses  drift  with  the  evening  breeze. 
Through  this  wealth  of  brilliant  colors  and  mingled  hues  and  tints 
the  sun  projects  its  rays  in  fan-like  form  far  into  space,  the  shafts 
and  beams  of  light  illuminating  the  whole,  and  completing  a  rare 
picture  of  magnificence  that  inspires  feelings  of  reverence  and 
humility  in  those  who  look  upon  it.  You  close  your  eyes,  and 
wonder  if  anything  else  that  is  of  this  world  can  be  so  beautiful. 
The  fiery  glory  behind  the  mountains  dies  down,  but  twilight  lingers 
long  as  it  slowly  yields  its  beauty  to  the  gathering  shades  of  night. 

And  this  is  Evening  in  Navajo  land. 

One  after  another  the  stars  appear;  slowly  and  shyly  at  first, 
one  here  and  one  there;  "then  springing  into  myriads  all  at  once." 
The  rising  moon  is  hidden  by  the  mountains,  and  her  soft  white 
light,  reflected  on  the  clouds  that  float  around  and  above  the  peaks, 
transforms  them  into  masses  of  white  and  gold.  As  we  stand  in 
the  deep  shadow,  the  mountains  are  outlined  in  frosted  silver  by 
the  light  of  the  moon  that  we  cannot  see,  and  with  this  and  the 
hues  of  the  illuminated  clouds  before  us,  the  grandly  beautiful  scene 
is  like  one  we  associate  with  the  work  of  enchantment — a  most 
wonderful  combination  of  moonlight  effects  in  the  mountain  regions 
of  the  Navajo  land.  As  she  rises,  the  moon's  rim  comes  into  view 
where  two  mountains  look  at  each  other  across  a  canon  (Figure 
2)  ;  and,  peering  through  this  notch  in  the  range,  she  seems  to  be 
asking:  "Is  it  night?  May  I  come?"  But  without  awaiting  our 
bidding  she  presents  herself  in  all  her  splendor;  and  the  mountains 
and  cliffs  and  valleys — all  the  wide  landscape  around  us,  are  flooded 
with  her  light  and  do  homage  to  Her  Majesty,  the  Queen  of  Night, 
— the  Indians'  "Mother  of  All  Mankind." 


26  THE   NAVAJO  AND   HIS   BLANKET. 

The  soughing  of  the  pines  as  they  are  stirred  by  a  rising  breeze, 
is  like  the  murmur  of  a  distant  sea,  and  warns  us  that  the  Storm 
King  has  had  his  battle  array  of  thunder-clouds  hidden  behind  the 
mountains.  Now,  as  he  leads  them  over  the  range,  the  wind  rushes 
down  the  gorges,  whirls  around  the  foot-hills,  and  sweeps  across 
the  mesa  and  through  the  canons,  raising  great  billows  of  dust. 
The  air  is  "tremulous  with  the  energy  of  an  approaching  storm." 
Suddenly,  all  is  quiet;  but  soon  the  great  rain-drops  begin  to  fall — 
big  warm  tears  of  the  clouds.  Thicker  and  faster  they  come  until 
the  land  is  drenched,  and  new-made  rivers  roar  in  the  canons,  and 
flood  the  arroyas  with  their  turbid  waters.  The  clouds  have  swept 
over  us,  and  in  the  silvery  light  that  fills  the  night,  we  watch  the 
retreating  storm  and  hear  the  distant,  sullen  thunder,  that  rumbles 
like  the  cannonading  of  a  retiring  army  that  has  spent  its  strength. 
Far-away  dull  flashes  of  lightning  still  tell  of  the  storm  that  is 
gone ;  but  the  moon  and  the  stars  seem  brighter  than  before,  though 
low  in  the  east  is  a  touch  of  the  faint  first  glow  that  heralds  the 
coming  of  another  morn. 

And  this  was  a  summer  day  in  Navajo  land. 


THE    NAVAJO    LAND 


FIGURE  4 —      *   "a   mountain,  mesa  and  valley  country' 


A  LAND  of  desert  and  of 
great  brown  plains;  of 
rugged  mountains  and  of 
sheltered  valleys;  of  an 
azure  sky,  and  a  soft,  win 
some  air  that  tempts  one 
to  rest  and  sleep;  where 
the  cold  of  winter  is  tem 
pered  by  the  warmth  of  a 
southern  sun,  and  the  sum 
mer  heat  is  fanned  to  a  de 
lightful  coolness  by  the 

ever-stirring  breeze  that  comes  down  from  snow-capped  mountains, 
over  the  mesas  and  into  the  valleys,  freighted  with  the  breath  of 
pines  and  cedars. 

That  portion  of  our  sunny  southwest  occupied  by  the  Navajo 
Indians,  and  set  apart  by  the  government  as  the  Navajo  Reserva 
tion,  we  shall  call  the  Navajo  land.  Originally  these  people  occu 
pied  a  wide  range  of  mountain  and  valley  in  southeastern  Utah, 
southwestern  Colorado,  northwestern  New  Mexico  and  northeastern 
Arizona.  Prior  to  1846,  they  were  bold  marauders  and,  until 
tamed  by  American  soldiers,  were  a  menace  to  the  pioneer  line  of 
civilization.  In  1867  the  present  reservation,  located  in  northwest 
ern  New  Mexico,  and  northeastern  Arizona,  with  a  small  area  in 
southeastern  Utah,  was  assigned  them.  While  this  reservation  does 
not  nearly  cover  the  original  area  occupied  by  the  Navajos  prior 
to  1863,  it  is  entirely  within  the  lines  of  their  first  occupation.  The 
reservation  contains  12,000  square  miles,  or  7,680,000  acres,  equnl 


28  THE   NAVAJO  AND   HIS   BLANKET. 

to  the  combined  areas  of  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut,  or  of  New 
Jersey  and  Connecticut. 

If  this  great  tract  of  land  were  fertile,  or  outside  the  arid 
region,  it  would  not  be  an  Indian  reservation.  As  it  is,  the  sun 
shine,  temperate  climate,  and  grandeur  of  scenery,  constitute  nearly 
all  the  measures  of  value  the  region  now  possesses.  The  Tunicha 
range  of  mountains  cuts  the  country  in  two  from  the  northwest  to 
the  southeast,  and  the  Cariza  spurs  to  the  north  add  to  its  mountain 
area ;  the  range  and  the  spurs  attaining  an  altitude  of  from  8,000 
to  9,500  feet.  Outside  the  mountain  districts  there  are  broad  mesas, 
or  table  lands,  and  great  valleys;  the  mountain  sides  being  covered 
with  growths  of  pine,  cedar  and  spruce.  The  northern  portions  of 
the  Navajo  land,  especially  in  the  high  or  mountain  altitudes,  is 
cold  in  winter  and  cool  in  summer ;  while  the  lower  jx:>rtion  is 
extremely  hot  in  summer,  and  mild  in  winter.  The  migratory 
habits  of  the  Xavajo  enable  him  to  conform  easily  to  climatic  con 
ditions,  and  therefore  he  will  usually  be  found  in  the  most  comfort 
able  part  of  his  domain  in  summer  or  in  winter.  The  ranges  break 
down  toward  the  valleys  and  plains  on  either  side,  and  are  seamed 
with  many  canons,  that  give  rise  to  numerous  small  streams.  The 
canons  furnish  nearly  all  the  tillable  land  in  the  mountain  region, 
and  the  streams  the  water  for  the  irrigation  of  crops. 

This  country  was  inhabited  before  the  advent  of  the  Navajos; 
and  by  a  people  of  superior  intelligence,  and  far  more  peaceful  and 
civilized  than  their  successors.  The  valleys  produced  means  of  sub 
sistence,  and  that  they  were  cultivated  long  before  the  coming  of 
the  Xavajos  is  shown  by  the  remains  of  ancient  reservoirs  and  well- 
planned  irrigating  canals;  the  Navajos  not  yet  having  undertaken 
anything  of  this  kind  in  as  scientific  or  practical  a  manner  as  their 
predecessors.  The  canons  were  fertile,  sheltered  and  watered,  the 
great  walls  of  sandstone  affording  opportunity  to  cut  homes  in  the 
rock;  or  offering  cliff-covered  terraces  upon  which  to  build  homes 
that  were  at  once  safe  retreats  from  the  elements  and  from  enemies. 


Pl  "r   '      0ne-h»H  uaw-drws,"   «,f  the 

iiid    1860. 


THE    NAVAJO    LAND.  29 

In  this  region  we  find  many  of  the  ancient  cliff  dwellings,  relics 
of  a  mysterious  race  of  men.  The  Navajo  land  is  peculiarly  rich 
in  these  monuments  of  a  lost  people;  a  large  number  of  the  more 
remarkable  ruins  being  found  in  the  central  part  of  the  reservation. 
The  modern  Indian  has  no  traditions  to  enlighten  us  as  to  the  kind 
of  people  who  preceded  him  in  the  occupation  of  that  country,  and 
who  lived  in  the  great  communal  houses  that  line  the  canons ;  neither 
stories  nor  legends  that  throw  any  light  upon  the  time  these  Cliff 
Dwellers  lived,  or  tell  us  who  or  what  they  were.  He  is  but  little 
interested  in  these  ruins  of  the  homes  of  people  who  were  gone 
centuries  before  Columbus  embarked  upon  unknown  seas  to  find  a 
new  world,  and  pays  scarcely  more  attention  to  them  than  to  the 
rocks  upon  which  they  stand,  or  to  the  cliffs  that  rise  above  them 
like  silent  sentinels  keeping  guard  over  the  deserted  homes  of  a  race 
whose  work  throws  only  a  dim  shadow  upon  the  mists  of  an 
tiquity. 

That  the  Cliff  Dwellers  had  disappeared  long  before  the  advent 
of  the  Navajos  is  also  quite  evident.  If  the  latter  had  found  the 
Cliff  Dwellers  occupying  that  field,  there  would  have  been  war  for 
supremacy,  and  the  story  of  battle  would  have  been  handed  down 
for  many  generations ;  legends  of  war  being  the  most  enduring  of 
any  subject  with  which  an  Indian  mind  has  to  deal. 

Moreover  the  relics  of  these  prehistoric  people  are  evidence 
that  they  were  much  further  advanced  in  the  domestic  arts  than 
even  the  Navajos  of  the  present  time.  It  is  not  the  nature  of  man, 
even  savage  man,  to  retrograde,  and  it  would  seem  that  the  Cliff 
Dwellers  had  also  advanced  to  a  condition  of  peaceful  life.  The 
many  implements  of  domestic  use  and  of  agriculture  found  in  the 
ruins,  and  the  absence  of  weapons  of  war,  indicate  this. 

When  white  men  first  came  in  contact  with  the  Navajos,  they 
found  them  far  behind  the  condition  that  had  been  attained  by  the 
Cliff  Dwellers,  as  told  by  the  mute  eloquence  of  the  work  left  behind 
by  the  earlier  people.  The  Cliff  Dwellers  were  weavers  of  cloth, 


;ft)  THE   NAVAJO  AND   HIS   BLANKET. 

fine  specimens  of  cotton  weave  having  been  found  in  the  older  ruins ; 
some  in  symbolical  figures  in  colors  that  vie  with  the  present  Navajo 
blanket.  The  Navajos  did  not  learn  to  weave  until  comparatively 
recent  times;  indeed,  they  did  not  spin  a  thread  nor  do  any  weav 
ing  until  long  after  the  occupation  of  the  southwest  by  the  Span 
iards;  and  although  they  have  dwelt  in  their  present  land  for  cen 
turies,  their  period  covers  only  a  step  backward  toward  the  age  in 
which  these  prehistoric  people  of  our  southwest  lived. 

Major  \V.  H.  Emory,  of  the  United  States  army,  who  appears 
to  have  been  the  first  American  who  visited  this  region  of  ruins 
and  intelligently  observed  and  described  them,  said  in  his  "Notes 
of  a  Military  Reconnoissance,"  under  date  October  28,  1846: 

"Red  cedar  posts  were  found  in  many  places,  which  seemed  to 
detract  from  their  antiquity,  but  for  the  peculiarity  of  this  climate, 
where  vegetable  matter  seems  never  to  decay.  In  vain  did  we 
search  for  some  remnant  which  would  enable  us  to  connect  the 
inhabitants  of  these  long  deserted  buildings  with  other  races.  No 
mark  of  an  edge  tool  could  be  found,  and  no  remnant  of  any  house 
hold  or  family  utensils,  except  the  fragments  of  pottery  which  were 
everywhere  strewed  on  the  plain,  and  the  rude  corn-grinder  still 
used  by  the  Indians.  So  great  was  the  quantity  of  this  pottery,  and 
the  extent  of  ground  covered  by  it,  that  I  have  formed  the  idea  it 
must  have  been  used  for  pipes  to  convey  water.  There  were  about 
the  ruins  quantities  of  the  fragments  of  agate  and  obsidian,  the 
stone  described  by  Prescott  as  that  used  by  the  Aztecs  to  cut  out 
the  hearts  of  their  victims.  This  valley  was  evidently  once  the 
abode  of  busy,  hard-working  people.  Who  were  they?  Where 
have  they  gone?  Tradition  among  the  Indians  and  Spaniards  does 
not  reach  them." 

This  Navajo  country  has  been  the  home  of  the  Indian  so  long, 
that  it  is  without  doubt  entitled  to  the  distinction  of  presenting 
evidence  of  the  longest  continuous  occupancy  by  that  race  of  any 
portion  of  our  territory ;  and  therefore  the  land  of  the  Navajo  lends 


THE    NAVAJO    LAND. 


31 


interest  to  the  story  of  the  Navajo.  A  great  portion  of  the  Navajo 
country  was  originally  a  vast  table-land  underlaid  by  deep  strata  of 
sandstone.  The  warring  elements  of  thousands  of  years  have 
grooved  it  with  valleys,  gorges  and  canons,  leaving  flat-topped 
mesas  and  perpendicular  cliffs. 

The  wonderful  Canon  de  Chelly  is  in  the  heart  of  the  Navajo 

country ;  a  deep,  broad  fis 
sure  in  the  table-  and 
mountain-land,  walled  on 
both  sides  by  great  masses 
of  red  sandstone.  The 
walls  vary  in  height  from 
twenty  feet  at  the  mouth, 
where  the  mountain-  and 
table-land  slope  to  the 
plain,  to  800  feet  where 
the  canon  penetrates  the 
range.  Within  a  distance 
of  some  twenty  miles, 
which  is  nearly  the  length 
of  the  canon,  there  are 
about  one  hundred  and 
fifty  cliff-dwelling  ruins. 
Several  smaller  canons  di- 

FIGURE  5—*  *   "A   Cliff  Dweller's   Sandal;   upper  and         verging     from      the      main 
lower  sides.      More  than    1,000   years  old.  -11.1        r*  j    1 

one,  notably  the  Canon  del 
Muerto,  and  Monument  Canon,  also  contain  many  ruins. 

The  pottery  and  other  articles  of  domestic  use  found  in  the 
homes  of  these  ancient  people  would  indicate  that  they  were  the 
remote  ancestors  of  the  Pueblos;  but  how  remote?  "That's  the 
question." 

It  is  reported  by  very  good  authority  that  whole  ears  of  carbon 
ized  Indian  corn  have  been  found  embedded  in  lava;  the  lava-flow 


;tt  THE   NAVAJO  AND   HIS   BLANKET. 

containing  this  curious  evidence  of  the  long  time  ago  of  the  Cliff 
Dwellers  having  been  later  covered  deep  with  debris.  Charred  roof 
timbers  with  burned  clay  adhering  to  them,  and  many  articles  of 
domestic  life  in  close  proximity,  further  indicated  that  these  people 
were  there  at  the  time  of  the  last  volcanic  eruption  in  that  country. 
Calcined  Indian  corn  has  also  been  found  on  the  floors  of  some  of 
the  old  dwellings,  but  having  no  ashes  or  cinders  near  to  indicate 
that  it  had  been  burned  in  an  ordinary  fire.  The  theory  is  becoming 
popular  that  the  grain  was  calcined  by  volcanic  heat  that  raisedwthe 
temperature  of  the  atmosphere  above  the  scorching  point,  and 
destroyed  all  life.  Great  basins,  formerly  the  beds  of  lakes,  are 
now  filled  with  lava,  and  ruins  of  the  abodes  of  men  are  found  at 
the  edge  of  these  lava  beds  in  such  position  that  they  appear  to 
have  been  at  one  time  on  the  shores  of  the  lakes. 

What  of  the  theory  that  a  great  population  was  destroyed  sud 
denly  by  the  fervent  heat  and  poisonous  fumes  from  molten  lava? 
The  recent  eruption  of  Mt.  Pelee,  and  consequent  destruction  of 
human  life,  helps  us  to  believe  it  possible  that  the  Cliff  Dwellers 
were  destroyed  in  like  manner.  Implements  of  domestic  utility  are 
found  in  great  abundance,  and  which  these  people  certainly  would 
have  taken  away  with  them  if  they  had  departed  leisurely;  while 
the  number  of  human  remains  discovered  in  and  about  the  ruins 
indicate  a  great  and  sudden  fatality.  Many  writers  have  advanced 
the  theory  that  they  were  driven  away  by  more  warlike  tribes,  but 
the  skulls  show  no  evidence  that  the  people  were  killed  in  battle. 
That  was  the  age  of  the  war  club,  and  stone  battle  axe,  and  if  the 
people  were  slain  by  enemies,  there  would  be  many  crushed  skulls 
among  the  remains;  yet,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  a  broken  skull  is 
rarely  seen. 

It  is  probable  that  no  single  agency  was  responsible  for  the 
abandonment  of  this  region  by  these  strange  people.  We  can 
readily  l>elieve  that  the  land  was  once  very  fertile,  and  that  a  gradual 
change  from  humid  to  arid  conditions  shortened  the  food  supply. 


THE    NAVAJO    LAND.  33 

and  that  this,  together  with  increasing  numbers,  compelled  many  to 
abandon  their  homes  and  seek  productive  valleys  to  the  south; 
and  that  subsequent  great  convulsions  of  nature  causing  volcanic 
eruptions  completed  the  work.  These  would  be  followed  by  a  long 
period  of  desolation;  and  thousands  of  years  may  have  elapsed 
between  the  departure  of  the  Cliff  Dwellers  and  the  restoration  of 
that  region  to  conditions  fit  for  the  habitations  of  man.  Gradually 
the  country  recovered,  and  the  soil,  enriched  by  a  long  period  of 
rest,  stimulated  the  growth  of  grass,  shrubs  and  trees;  and  finally 
the  Navajo  pilgrim  from  the  north  came  in  and  took  possession. 

In  the  valleys,  along  the  rivers,  and  near  the  foothills,  but  on 
level  ground,  we  find  a  class  of  ruins  that  we  must  believe  are  older 
than  the  cliff  dwellings.  Great  communal  houses  they  were,  some 
isolated,  some  in  scattered  village  form,  but  each  individual  house 
presenting  evidence  of  having  sheltered  a  large  community.  We 
find  in  each  living  rooms,  prison  cells,  and  estufas  or  places  of  meet 
ing  and  worship,  and  can  still  trace  the  canals  that  brought  water 
from  the  river  to  each  communal  palace.  There  is  evidence  shown 
by  old  lines  of  irrigating  canals  and  ditches,  that  the  valley  all 
around  for  miles  was  once  cultivated  by  these  people. 

The  more  interesting  of  this  class  of  ruins  are  found  near 
Aztec,  N.  M.  There  is  one  principal  ruin  that  commands  the  most 
attention.  Many  of  the  walls  are  still  standing,  at  a  height  of  forty 
feet  above  the  level  of  the  surrounding  country.  The  walls  average 
two  and  one-half  feet  in  thickness,  the  outer  and  inner  layers  being 
of  dressed  stone,  and  the  center  filled  in  with  cobble  laid  in  mortar. 
As  the  pile  appears  now,  it  has  a  ground  area  of  300  by  400  feet, 
and  judging  from  the  heaps  of  debris  around,  it  must  have  been  a 
building  250  by  350  feet.  Estimating  the  amount  of  debris  that  has 
fallen  from  the  walls,  and  calculating  how  much  of  the  present 
wall  it  would  duplicate,  we  have  a  building  seven  stories  high. 
The  rooms  remaining  are  small,  and  it  is  not  guess-work  to  assign 
100  to  each  story,  or  700  rooms  to  this  great  communal  palace. 


34  THE   NAVAJO  AND   HIS   BLANKET. 

Within  a  short  distance  are  two  more  ruins  of  the  same  general 
character,  but  smaller. 

The  quarry  from  which  the  flat  stones  of  the  outer  parts  of 
the  walls  were  brought  is  about  three  miles  away.  A  wide  trail 
from  which  the  cobble-stones  have  been  removed,  can  still  be  traced 
from  the  ruins  to  the  quarry.  As  the  Cliff  Dwellers  had  no  beasts 
of  burden,  nor  mechanical  means  of  transportation,  the  millions  of 
pieces  of  stone  required  to  build  these  great  edifices  must  have  been 
carried  by  men,  women  and  children.  Either  great  numbers  enabled 
them  to  do  the  work  in  a  few  years,  or  it  took  generations  of  time 
to  transport  the  material  and  complete  such  a  pile  of  masonry ; 
though  it  is  not  likely  that  any  others  than  those  of  the  single 
community  that  was  to  occupy  it  were  engaged  in  its  construction, 
which  was  such  that  each  story  could  be  occupied  when  finished. 
The  walls  are  not  all  exactly  alike  in  construction,  and  this  suggests 
that  different  masters,  at  different  periods,  may  have  superintended 
the  work,  and  therefore  that  perhaps  a  century  elapsed  between  the 
beginning  and  the  completion  of  the  building.  An  interesting  fact 
noted  is  that  the  beams  forming  the  ceiling  of  each  room,  and  sup 
porting  the  adobe  floor  of  the  room  above  it,  are  of  cypress,  and  not 
cedar  as  is  generally  believed.  The  cypress  long  since  became 
extinct  in  that  region.  Cedar  beams  are  found  in  similar  buildings 
in  the  valleys,  and  also  in  those  in  the  cliffs.  Many  of  these  are 
long,  straight  trunks  from  twelve  to  fifteen  inches  in  diameter.  But 
no  cedars  that  would  make  such  beams  are  now  to  be  found  in 
that  country.  Whether  cypress  or  cedar,  the  trees  from  which 
these  timbers  were  obtained  must  have  grown  either  hundreds  of 
miles  away,  or  at  a  time  when  local  climatic  conditions  were  en 
tirely  different  from  what  they  now  are. 

But  two  of  the  rooms  have  been  excavated,  and  in  these  a 
number  of  mummified  skeletons  were  found,  together  with  many 
pieces  of  pottery,  and  other  relics  of  domestic  life,  such  as  beads, 
stone  implements,  needles  and  awls  of  bone.  With  relation  to  the 


THE    NAVAJO    LAND.  35 

mummified  skeletons,  it  must  not  be  inferred  that  they  are  anything 
like  the  mummies  found  in  Egypt.  In  consequence  of  the  dryness 
of  the  atmosphere,  the  bodies  do  not  decay,  but  the  flesh  shrivels 
upon  the  bones,  form  and  features  in  many  instances  being  well 
preserved.  As  all  these  relics  are  found  duplicated  in  the  ruins  of 
the  cliff  dwellings,  there  is  little  doubt  that  the  older  buildings  were 
inhabited  by  the  same  race  of  people ;  and  therefore  it  is  fair  to  pre 
sume  that  these  valley  dwellers  were  driven  from  their  homes  and 
compelled  to  establish  new  and  safer  ones  in  the  fastnesses  of  the 
canons  and  mountains  because  of  the  persecutions  of  hostile  and 
more  warlike  tribes. 

In  that  country  well-informed  people  to-day  call  the  valley 
dwellers  "Aztecs,"  and  the  mountain  or  cliff  people  "Cliff  Dwellers." 
Call  them  what  we  will,  Aztecs,  Cliff  Dwellers,  or  Cave  Dwellers, 
they  were  evidently  of  the  same  race.  This  is  shown  not  only  by 
the  similarity  of  their  relics,  but  by  conformity  in  stature,  and  in 
form  of  skulls,  of  the  remains  of  the  people  found  in  all  the  ruins. 

People  in  other  lands  question  the  age  of  these  buildings  and 
relics  on  the  score  that  they  would  long  since  have  crumbled  to 
dust  if  they  were  as  old  as  claimed.  But  we  must  remember  that 
many  of  these  homes  are  chiseled  from  the  solid  rock.  Others  are 
built  under  overhanging  cliffs  and  are  never  reached  by  a  drop  of 
moisture,  while  the  remains  of  the  valley  communal  houses  are 
protected  from  the  elements  by  heaps  of  debris.  All  are  built  at 
a  great  altitude,  many  of  them  more  than  a  mile  above  the  level 
of  the  sea ;  and  in  an  atmosphere  so  rare  and  dry  that  it  is  in  itself 
a  preservative.  In  addition  to  these  conditions,  we  must  consider 
that  it  is  an  arid  country  where  the  rain  fall  is  very  slight.  In 
such  a  climate  and  at  such  an  altitude,  there  is  seemingly  no  limit 
to  the  length  of  time  a  cedar  beam,  for  instance,  would  be  preserved 
if  sheltered  from  the  elements. 

Of  the  age  of  these  old  communal  buildings  we  can  only  guess. 
We  know  that  they  were  crumbling  in  ruins  long  before  Columbus 


36  THE   NAVAJO  AND   HIS   BLANKET. 

landed  on  our  shores,  from  the  fact  that  some  explorers  and  investi 
gators  in  their  excavations  have  discovered  old  foundations  upon 
which  later  buildings,  now  in  ruins,  were  erected.  Therefore  it  is 
not  difficult  to  believe  that  these  people  may  have  occupied  that 
country  even  before  the  Chrisitan  era. 

We  know  the  Cave,  or  Cliff  Dweller  is  gone,  and  the  Navajo 
is  there  occupying  the  same  region,  but  absolutely  refusing  to  live 
in  any  of  the  old  houses,  no  matter  if,  as  is  sometimes  the  case, 
they  are  quite  accessible  and  could  easily  be  made  far  more  comfort 
able  than  the  rude  huts  in  which  he  now  lives.  Many  of  the  ruins 
have  served  as  burial  places  for  the  Navajos  for  a  long  time.  The 
Navajo  burial  cists  are  frequently  found  in  them,  some  showing 
evidence  of  having  been  constructed  many  years  ago.  The  Navajo 
burial  cist  is  generaly  a  dome-shaped  structure  of  stone,  usually 
circular,  although  some  of  them  are  oblong  in  form,  with  a  square 
hole  left  in  the  top  for  ceremonial  purposes.  The  hole  not  being 
large  enough  to  admit  a  human  body,  we  infer  that  the  body  was 
laid  on  the  ground  and  the  cist  or  tomb  built  around  and  over  it. 
Ruins  favorably  located  are  also  used  by  the  Navajos  as  granaries 
for  the  storage  of  wheat  and  corn,  and  as  shelters  for  their  flocks 
of  sheep. 

The  Navajo  land  is  an  arid  country.  Excepting  at  higher 
altitudes  in  the  mountain  ranges,  where  the  rainfall  is  greater, 
crops  do  not  thrive  without  irrigation.  There  is  evidence  that  the 
Cliff  Dwellers  cultivated  a  much  greater  area  of  the  mesa  and 
canon  lands  than  is  now  tilled  by  the  Navajos.  That  the  former 
did  not  cultivate  by  irrigation  all  the  available  land  is  evident  from 
the  fact  that  the  remains  of  irrigating  ditches  and  reservoirs  are 
not  found  in  number  and  extent  sufficient  to  have  furnished  water 
for  all  the  land,  under  present  conditions.  It  is  possible  that  differ 
ent  climatic  conditions  then  prevailed,  and  that  there  was  sufficient 
rain  to  enable  them  to  cultivate  many  tracts  that  are  now  entirely 
arid.  If  this  were  not  the  case,  it  is  a  wonder  how  the  swarms  of 


THE    NAVAJO    LAND.  39 

people  who  once  occupied  the  thousands  of  communal  houses  man 
aged  to  exist. 

To-day  all  the  arable  land  in  that  country,  even  if  supplied 
with  irrigating  ditches  wherever  water  could  be  conveyed,  would 
not  support  one-tenth  the  population  that  once  flourished  there. 
The  relics  of  these  ancient  people  indicate  that  they  were  not  great 
hunters,  but  were  of  a  rather  peaceful  nature,  largely  devoted  to 
agricultural  pursuits.  Great  quantities  of  corn  are  found  in  the 
ruins,  and  but  little  evidence  of  any  means  of  subsistence  excepting 
grains  and  fruits. 

The  Navajos  have  not  made  much  of  a  success  of  their  civil 
engineering,  and  the  few  irrigating  canals  they  have  are  illy  con 
structed  and  not  laid  out  on  approved  lines.  Wheat  is  grown  to 
some  extent,  but  the  fields  are  small,  and  all  the  work  of  harvesting 
is  by  hand,  the  cutting  being  done  with  knives.  Grain  is  threshed 
in  the  old  way,  by  placing  the  sheaves  on  the  ground  inside  an 
inclosure,  and  then  turning  in  a  flock  of  goats  and  driving  them 
around  over  the  sheaves  until  the  grain  is  threshed  out.  It  is  win 
nowed  by  pouring  it  from  a  wide  shallow  willow  basket,  usually 
upon  a  blanket  spread  upon  the  ground.  After  winnowing,  it  is 
washed  and  then  dried  in  the  sun.  There  are  two  reasons  for  this : 
the  first,  to  thoroughly  clean  it,  and  the  second,  to  make  it  softer, 
so  that  it  can  be  more  easily  ground  by  hand  in  the  rude  stone 
"metate,"  which  is  still  used,  as  it  has  been  used  by  the  Indians 
of  the  southwest  for  hundreds  of  years,  as  the  only  means  of 
grinding  their  grain.  Indian  corn  of  a  small  flinty  variety  is  grown 
to  some  extent,  but  the  cold  nights  and  the  high  altitude  are  not 
favorable  to  successful  corn  culture. 

The  peach  is  their  favorite  fruit  and  practically  the  only  one 
receiving  very  much  attention.  Peach  trees  were  introduced  into 
New  Mexico  by  the  Spaniards  at  an  early  day,  and  in  every  sheltered 
nook  in  the  canons  of  the  Navajo  country,  peach  trees  are  found 
growing  without  culture,  apparently  in  a  wild  state ;  but  in  fact 


40  THK   NAVAJO  AND   HIS   BLANKET. 

young  trees  and  peach  pits  were  planted  there  by  the  Xavajos. 
When  the  peaches  ripen  it  is  a  holiday  time  in  the  Navajo  land, 
and  all  who  can  be  spared  from  tending  the  flocks  gather  at  the 
orchards  and  gorge  themselves  with  the  lucious  fruit,  which  reaches 
a  high  perfection  of  quality  in  these  sunny  gardens  of  Nature.  The 
peach  orgie  continues  until  all  the  fruit  is  eaten;  as  none  is  taken 
away,  nor  preserved  in  the  dried  form. 

They  also  grow  apples,  melons,  squashes,  pumpkins,  onions  and 
beans,  all  of  which  thrive  remarkably  well  under  irrigation.  Irish 
potatoes  are  grown  in  the  mountain  regions  and  are  of  excellent 
quality.  Wild  cherries  and  plums,  different  species  of  wild  cur 
rants  and  gooseberries,  and  wild  blackberries  and  raspberries, 
flourish  to  some  extent.  The  fruits  do  not  appear  to  receive  any 
attention  in  the  way  of  cultivation,  further  than  to  plant  the  trees 
or  seeds,  which  are  then  left  to  do  the  best  they  can. 

In  spite  of  this,  magnificent  crops  of  peaches  and  apples  are 
grown,  the  soil  in  the  canons  seeming  just  fitted  for  them,  there 
being  sufficient  moisture  there  to  bring  them  to  perfection ;  while  the 
climate  and  bright  sunshine  combine  to  make  the  Navajo  fruits 
of  delicious  quality. 

The  Navajo  land  is  a  mountain,  mesa  and  valley  country 
(Figure  4),  with  the  mountains  predominating.  A  country  of 
cliffs  and  canons,  presenting  many  difficulties  to  travel,  which  is 
almost  entirely  over  narrow  trails,  either  on  foot  or  horseback. 
Of  the  rock  formation,  the  most  conspicuous  is  the  bright  red  sand 
stone  that  the  elements  have  carved  into  many  irregular  and  pictu 
resque  shapes.  Often  in  the  distance  a  mass  of  rock  will  appear 
like  a  house  or  castle,  and  sometimes  a  spire,  reaching  high  above 
the  surrounding  rocks,  seems  to  be  surmounting  a  cathedral.  These 
scenes  occur  so  often  and  appear  so  vividly  real  that  they  will  for 
ever  remain  a  striking  feature  of  the  magnificent  landscape  that 
makes  the  Navajo  land  a  marvel  of  scenic  beauty  and  grandeur. 


THE    NAVAJO 


THE  Navajo  has  long  been  a  conspicu 
ous  figure  among  the  Indians  of  our 
southwest.  Strong,  and  made  self- 
reliant  by  many  years  of  successful 
warring  upon  neighboring  tribes,  he 
had  become  imbued  with  his  own  im 
portance,  and  therefore  held  aloof 
from  the  advances  of  the  white  man 
until  long  after  nearly  all  the  neigh 
boring  tribes  had  laid  down  their 
arms.  He  was  among  the  last  to  leave 
the  war-path  of  offense  or  defense, 
and  finally,  when  conquered,  was 
among  the  first  to  become  self-support 
ing  ;  though  he  still  retains  much  of  his 
wild  nature,  and  has  absorbed  fewer 
of  the  white  man's  vices  than  have  the 
adjacent  tribes J 

The  Navajos  are  descended  from  the  great  Athabascan  family 
of  Indians  which  formerly  occupied  a  large  portion  of  British 
America.  The  word  "Navajo"  was  derived  from  the  Spanish 
"Navajoa,"  applied  to  a  district  on  the  San  Juan  and  Little  Colo 
rado  rivers;  and  as  the  Navajos  occupied  that  region,  the  Spaniards 
styled  them  "Apaches  de  Navajoa."  They  were  not  for  from  right 
in  claiming  them  as  Apaches,  as  there  is  good  authority  for  saying 
that  the  latter  were~Hescended  from  the  same  Athabascan  stock. 
The  Navajos,  however,  do  not  recognize  the  name  thus  applied  to 
them,  but  call  themselves  Tinnai  or  Tinneh,  meaning  "the  people." 


FIGURE  7 —       *    "he  struts  and  poses  in 
great  style  until  he   scents   his   mother- 


42  THE  NAVAJO  AND   HIS   BLANKET. 

Some  authorities  claim  that  these  people  entered  their  present 
country  in  the  Thirteenth  Century,  while  others  say  they  came  in 
the  Fourteenth  or  the  Fifteenth  Century;  but  there  seems  to  be  no 
basis  but  that  of  speculation  upon  which  to  attempt  to  determine 
the  period  of  their  coming.  \  The  home  of  the  Athabascans  was  far 
to  the  north,  and  it  is  likely  that  by  slow  movement  the  Navajos 
traveled  south  by  easy  stages,  along  the  eastern  ranges  of  the  Rocky 
Mountain  region  until  they  reached  the  great  area  of  mountains 
and  plains  in  southern  Colorado  and  Utah,  and  in  northern  New 
Mexico  and  Arizona,  in  which  they  established  themselves^ 

They  have  may  mythical  stories  of  their  origin.  One  is  to  the 
effect  that  they  came  across  a  narrow  sea  beyond  the  setting  sun, 
and  landed  on  the  northern  shore  of  this  country.  There  they  were 
persecuted  by  enemies,  and  finally,  in  desperate  straits,  invoked 
the  Great  Spirit,  who  sent  them  a  great  ship  of  rock  upon  which 
they  were  safely  carried  high  in  air,  and  brought  to  their  present 
land. 

The  ''ship  rock"  of  the  Navajos  is  known  to  all  travelers  in 
the  southwest.  Rising  from  a  level  plain,  about  thirty  miles  west 
from  Farmington,  New  Meixco,  it  stands  out  in  strong  relief  from 
whatever  direction  it  may  be  viewed,  and  in  its  weird  loneliness  and 
grandeur  seems  a  fitting  subject  for  an  Indian  legend.  The  Navajos 
consider  the  rock  sacred. 

Another  story  is  that  the  ancestors  of  the  Navajo  tribe  were 
brought  from  the  far  north  on  the  back  of  a  great  bird ;  and  still 
another,  that  they  came  up  from  the  center  of  the  earth.  Their 
legends  differ  as  to  the  means  of  transportation,  but,  with  the  excep 
tion  of  the  idea  that  they  came  up  out  of  the  earth,  they  generally 
agree  that  they  came  from  the  far  north.  The  most  acceptable  of 
their  stories  is  that  they  were  guided  by  a  messenger  from  the  sky, 
and  after  a  long  journey,  and  much  suffering  at  the  hands  of 
enemies  they  met  on  the  way,  they  were  finally  directed  to  their 
present  country.  There  is  also  a  vague  tradition  among  them  that 


THE   NAVAJO.  43 

they  came  by  water.  But,  about  the  only  things  we  certainly  know 
of  their  history  is  their  Athabascan  origin,  and  that  they  have  been 
in  our  southwest  for  a  long  time. 

The  Navajos  are  much  attached  to  the  region  in  which  they 
live,  and  often  refer  to  it  as  "our  Mother  land."  They  tell  us  that 
the  Apaches  were  once  Navajos,  and  that  they  came  "long  time 
ago,"  before  the  time  of  four  old  men — ancestors  of  the  present 
Navajos — father,  grandfather,  great-grandfather,  great-great 
grandfather;  and  to  this  they  add  another  story  that  "long  time 
ago"  whole  bands  of  Pueblos  ran  away  from  the  Spaniards  and 
joined  their  people.  They  also  tell  that  the  Cliff  Dwellers  were 
carried  away  by  a  "bad  wind"  long  before  the  Navajos  arrived; 
which  is  probably  a  mere  attempt  of  theirs  to  account  for  the  de 
serted  and  ruined  buildings. 

The  land  was  not  entirely  the  Navajos'  ideal,  the  climate  being 
far  milder  than  that  of  their  original  home  in  the  north.  Shelter, 
mountains,  water  and  pasture  were  there,  but  at  the  time  of  their 
arrival  pasture  was  not  of  direct  value  to  them.  Wild  game  was 
not  as  plentiful  as  farther  north,  and  there  was  much  arid  land. 
We  do  not  know  why  they  concluded  to  occupy  such  a  country, 
but  it  is  probable  that,  expecting  to  find  a  better  region,  one  better 
suited  to  them,  by  going  farther,  they  were  halted  in  their  march 
south  by  the  power  of  numbers  of  the  Pueblos,  whose  northern 
borders  they  had  invaded. 

At  this  time  the  Navajos  were  not  a  great  Indian  nation.  The 
tribe  was  small  and,  from  the  best  evidence  we  can  now  obtain, 
was  not  of  a  warlike  disposition.  They  were  not  noted  for  success 
in  hunting  wild  game,  and  subsisted  very  largely  upon  nuts  and 
roots,  clothing  themselves  with  the  skins  of  such  animals  as  they 
killed.  They  soon  began  to  receive  recruits  from  the  Apaches,  and 
other  neighboring  tribes,  which  accounts  for  their  present  com 
posite  or  mixed  character  as  a  race;  but  prior  to  1680,  they  were  not 
strong  enough  to  engage  in  anything  but  a  predatory  warfare  with 


44  THE   NAVAJO  AND   HIS   BLANKET. 

neighboring1  tribes.  They  have  always  been  known  as  "field"  or 
"plains"  Indians,  to  distinguish  them  from  the  habitually  sedentary 
tribes,  like  the  Pueblos. 

The  industries  of  an  aboriginal  people  are  shaped  by  their  sur 
roundings  and  the  character  of  the  country  in  which  they  live. 
The  climate,  soil,  forests  or  plains,  adaptability  for  agriculture,  and 
game  for  the  chase,  all  help  to  determine  how  they  can  best  sustain 
life;  and  when  this  is  decided,  their  habits  will  be  found  to  reflect 
their  environment. 

The  Xavajos  are  sedentary  only  to  the  extent  that  they  have 
for  a  long  time  occupied  about  the  same  region.  Within  this  im 
mense  area,  they  have  been  restless,  wandering  shepherds,  without 
permanently  fixed  habitations.  CSoon  after  1662,  by  pillage  or 
barter,  they  secured  a  few  sheep  from  the  Pueblos  who,  in  turn, 
had  obtained  them  from  the  Spaniards.  This  acquisition  had  much 
to  do  with  changing  their  mode  of  living;  and  as  they  learned  the 
art  of  weaving,  it  marked  the  beginning  of  an  important  epoch  in 
their  tribal  history.^ 

The  Navajo  country  is  not  adapted  to  extensive  agricultural 
operations,  and  probably  was  not  well  supplied  with  game  even  in 
the  earlier  times;  but  if  it  had  been,  it  would  not  have  taken  many 
years  for  its  new  occupants  to  destroy  the  wild  animals  to  the 
extent,  at  least,  of  making  them  a  precarious  dependence  as  a  source 
of  food  supply.  {  The  climate  demanded  clothing  far  beyond  the 
supply  of  the  skins  of  wild  animals,  and  some  industry  had  to  be 
found  suited  to  their  environment,  or  the  people  must  migrate  again. 

Fortunately,  the  pasture  land  helped  them  to  solve  the  prob 
lem,  and  the  Navajos  turned  out  to  be  good  shepherds.  Their 
flocks  increased  until,  for  a  number  of  years,  they  have  counted  a 
half  million  sheep  as  their  own.  This  influenced  their  destiny,  and 
has  transformed  them  from  fierce  marauders  into  comparatively 
peaceful  pastoral  people.  Nearly  every  family  owns  a  flock  of 
sheep  and  goats;  the  flesh  of  the  latter  being  more  generally  used 


I 


<  K    8  —  NAVAJOS     WORSHIPING     THE      ELEMENTS 
(From  tht  fainting  by    V.  P.  Sauirwtn) 


THE    NAVAJO.  47 

for  food  than  that  of  the  sheep.  With  a  population  of  20,000,  their 
herds  would  have  an  average  of  twenty-five  sheep  to  every  man, 
woman  and  child.  The  tendency  of  the  flockmaster  of  the  west 
is  toward  wealth,  and  the  Navajos  have  proceeded  far  enough  in 
that  direction  as  to  be  beyond  want,  while  many  of  them  are  rich. 
It  is  to  be  remembered  that  what  would  be  good  pasture  land  in 
the  Navajo  country,  would  be  thought  barren  waste  in  the  east, 
or  in  other  lower  altitudes.  It  requires  about  six  acres  to  feed 
properly  a  single  Navajo  sheep,  and  as  water  is  scarce  and  found 
only  at  long^  intervals,  the  shepherd  must  keep  his  flocks  moving 
constantly. 

/  ^^/ 

CjThe  whole  family  moves  with  the  sheep,  and  lives  practically 
out  of  doors;  or,  at  best,  in  hastily  constructed  shelters  made  by 
throwing  up  a  circle  of  brush,  and  covering  it,  or  not,  as  material 
may  or  may  not  be  at  hand, ;  These  changes  from  one  pasturage 
to  another,  often  take  a  family  over  hundreds  of  miles,  and  during 
this  migratory  life  the  spinning  and  weaving  go  on,  the  simple 
machinery  required  for  the  industry  being  a  part  of  every  camping 
equipment.  As  winter  approaches,  they  turn  toward  sheltered 
places,  but  may  or  may  not  return  to  the  abode  of  the  previous 
winter. 

In  a  particularly  rich  region  well  supplied  with  water,  a  number 
of  families  will  remain  in  close  proximity  to  one  another,  but  they 
are  usually  held  together  by  family  ties,  rather  than  by  a  com 
munity  of  interests.  It  is  a  singular  fact  that,  notwithstanding 
accessions  from  the  Pueblos,  who  were  essentially  village  Indians, 
there  are  no  villages  of  Navajos.  Their  dwellings  are  not  built 
in  conspicuous  places,  but  seem  to  be  located  rather  with  a  view  to 
concealment.  The  springs,  rivers  and  other  watering  places,  are 
by  the  tribal  laws  considered  common  or  public  property,  but  tillable 
lands  are  subject  to  individual  ownership;  such  ownership,  however, 
is  established  only  by  priority  of  occupation,  and  can  be  retained 
only  so  long  as  the  land  is  being  tilled. 


48  THE   NAVAJO  AND   HIS   BLANKET. 

The  Navajos  are  communal  in  their  form  of  government  and 
customs,  particularly  as  relates  to  the  grazing  lands,  which  are,  as 
a  general  rule,  common  property;  and  the  cutting  of  timber,  or 
use  of  water,  and  the  harvesting  of  peaches  or  wild  fruits  that 
grow  in  the  canons  are  not  restricted  on  account  of  any  individual 
claims  of  ownership.  There  is  a  head  chief,  who  owes  his  position 
to  election;  but,  with  one  exception,  none  of  these  chiefs  has  ever 
achieved  great  fame  as  a  leader  in  warfare,  or  great  reputation  as  a 
wise  or  sagacious  ruler;  and  none  has  stood  out  as  a  prominent 
figure  in  war  or  peace.  The  exception,  and  the  only  one  of  whom 
we  have  a  record,  who  made  a  reputation  among  his  people  as  a 
wise  ruler,  was  Manuelito,  born  in  1821,  elected  chief  in  1850, 
and  who  served  until  his  death  in  1894.  His  rule  was  of  an  advis 
ory  nature,  rather  than  arbitrary,  which  no  doubt  accounted  for  his 
popularity  while  living. 

There  are  many  sub-chiefs,  whose  jurisdictions  extend  over 
only  small  areas  of  tribal  territory;  and  upon  them  devolves  the 
local  execution  of  the  few  lightly-resting  tribal  laws  they  have. 
These  executives  do  not  occupy  their  positions  by  hereditary  right; 
neither  are  they  always  elected.  Oftentimes,  in  consequence  of 
superior  intelligence  or  tact,  thy  grow  into  their  places,  as  it  were, 
and  their  influence  is,  as  a  rule,  in  proportion  to  their  ability  as 
diplomats.  The  usual  method  of  "appeal"  from  the  unsatisfactory 
ruling  of  a  local  chief  is  by  disregarding  it,  and  there  is  no  court 
by  which  he  can  compel  obedience. 

The  Navajos  have  some  little  industries,  aside  from  their  gen 
eral  one  of  blanket-weaving.  The  women  knit  stockings,  using 
four  needles  in  much  the  same  manner  as  the  whites,  but  do  not 
seem  to  be  able  to  learn  to  form  the  heel  or  toe.  Although  the 
knitting  needles  they  now  use  are  procured  from  the  whites,  they 
are  no  evidence  that  the  Navajcs  learned  the  art  of  using  them 
from  the  whites,  as  we  find  knitted  leggings  made  from  human 
hair  or  the  fibre  of  the  yucca,  as  well  as  the  bone  and  wooden 


PLATE   II— An  old  example  of  Navajo  work  in   "pink  bayeta,"   native 
wool  and  native  dyes,   made  about    1850. 


THE   NAVAJO.  49 

needles  used  in  making  them,  in  the  ruins  of  the  cliff  dwellings 
in  the  Navajo  land.  The  Pueblo  women,  from  whom  the  Navajos 
learned  blanket-weaving,  were  also  knitters.  The  Navajo  women 
are  quite  skilful  basket-makers,  but  confine  their  work  principally 
to  sacred  baskets  used  in  the  marriage  and  other  ceremonies.  Only 
the  old  women,  who  are  familiar  with  the  rites  of  the  medicine 
men  make  these  baskets. 

Baskets  needed  for  domestic  use  are  procured  by  barter 
from  their  neighbors,  the  Apaches,  who  are  skillful  basket-makers ; 
and  in  like  manner,  they  procure  pottery  from  the  Pueblo  Indians. 
The  Navajos  are  expert  in  tanning  buckskin  and  making  it  into 
moccasins,  leggings  and  other  garments,  but  the  bead  work  on 
these  articles  is  done  by  the  Utes,  who  also  tan  buckskin  and  make  a 
great  variety  of  ornamental  bead  work. 

The  principal  tribes  of  the  southwest,  the  Navajos,  Apaches, 
Utes,  and  Pueblos,  are  each  celebrated  for  some  form  of  handi 
craft,  and  as  one  does  not  encroach  upon  the  work  of  the  other, 
it  leads  to  much  trading  between  the  tribes,  each  desiring  to  possess 
articles  made  by  the  others  (Figure  9.)  The  Navajos  weave 
blankets  and  make  ornaments  of  silver.  Each  of  the  four  divisions 
of  the  Apache  tribe — the  Mescalero,  Pima,  Jacarilla  and  San  Carlos 
Apaches,  makes  baskets,  differing  slightly,  but  strongly  character 
istic.  It  is  only  a  few  years  since  the  Shoshone  Indians,  of  Idaho 
and  Utah,  made  long  pilgrimages  to  the  south  for  the  purpose  of 
trading  with  the  Navajos,  the  Shoshones  being  celebrated  for  their 
fine  buckskin  garments  and  other  articles,  beautifully  ornamented 
with  beadwork. 

In  late  years  many  fine  blankets  of  Navajo  weaving,  from 
twenty  to  forty  years  old,  have  been  found  among  the  Shoshones 
of  Idaho  and  Utah.  Mrs.  A.  L.  Cook,  of  Pocatello,  Idaho,  has  a 
good  collection  gathered  in  that  vicinity,  which  the  Shoshones 
probably  could  not  have  procured  in  any  other  way  than  by  barter 
with  the  Navajos. 


50  THE  NAVAJO  AND   HIS   BLANKET. 

The  Pueblo  women  are  celebrated  for  pottery  of  rough,  highly 
ornamented,  and  unique  patterns.  In  this  work  they  are  artists; 
the  scrolls  and  figures  with  which  their  pottery  is  decorated,  nearly 
all  being  symbolical,  and  to  a  great  extent  form  the  basis  of  Navajo 
symbols  and  patterns. 

The  Navajo  is  not  a  lazy  Indian,  but  is  willing  to  work  at 
anything  remunerative;  and  in  this  he  is  an  exception  among  red 
men  generally.  He  herds  sheep  and  cattle,  and  does  all  the  farm 
work,  and  is  ready  to  serve  the  white  man  at  any  kind  of  labor. 
He  is  also  a  silversmith,  and  is  quite  skilful  in  hammering  and 
engraving  buttons,  buckles  and  discs  for  belts.  These  latter  are 
from  three  to  four  inches  in  diameter,  and  round  or  oval  in  form, 
roughly  engraved,  and  of  pure  silver  of  value  in  weight  of  from 
one  to  two  dollars  each. 

The  early  Spanish  invaders  found  very  skillful  workers  in 
metals  among  the  Pueblo  Indians.  As  we  shall  see  later  on  that 
the  Navajos  learned  the  art  of  weaving  from  the  Pueblo  Indians, 
it  is  reasonable  to  assume  that  their  first  knowledge  of  working  in 
metal  came  from  the  same  source.  The  Pueblo  Indian,  on  account 
of  his  permanent  abode,  has  better  facilities  than  the  Navajo,  but 
in  spite  of  his  disadvantages,  the  latter  is  the  most  skillful. 

The  Navajos'  metal-working  equipment  consists  of  a  rude  and 
temporarily  constructed  forge,  charcoal,  crucibles  of  clay,  molds 
of  clay  or  sandstone,  a  blow-pipe,  tongs,  and  such  requisites  as  he 
can  get  at  the  trading  posts — emery  paper,  files,  and  so  forth.  The 
anvil  is  any  piece  of  iron  of  sufficient  weight  that  he  can  find — a 
piece  of  railroad  rail,  or  the  butt  of  an  ax,  a  wedge,  or  a  heavy  bolt. 
One  of  Goodman's  photographs  (Figure  10)  shows  a  Navajo 
silversmith  at  work,  and  illustrates  the  crude  facilities  he  has  at  hand. 

Belts  and  necklaces  of  silver  are  their  pride,  and  are  worn 
more  by  the  men  than  by  the  squaws.  The  material  used  is  either 
Mexican  or  American  silver  dollars,  or  bars  of  silver  which  they 
procure  from  the  traders.  They  are  so  skillful  and  patient  in  ham- 


THE    NAVAJO. 


51 


mering  and  shaping  that  a  fairly  good-shaped  teaspoon  is  often  made 
of  a  silver  dollar  without  melting  and  casting.  As  they  are  able 
to  procure  and  learn  to  use  better  facilities,  their  work  is  growing 
better ;  the  ornaments  they  make  now  being  superior  to  those  made 
a  dozen  years  ago.  Some  of  their  patterns  are  beautiful,  though 


FIGURE    9— NAVAJO     INDIANS     TRADING 

(From   the  fainting  of  F.  P.  Sauerwen) 


entirely  original.  One  buckle  in  my  collection,  so  far  as  artistic 
design  is  concerned,  might  have  been  made  by  Tiffany.  Weaving 
is,  however,  their  principal  and  most  attractive  industry. 

The  Navajos  should  give  their  women  credit  for  the  wide  and 
distinctive  reputation  their  tribe  has  achieved  solely  from  the 
Navajo  blanket.  Possibly  the  men  are  willing  to  concede  this, 
which  would  largely  account  for  the  social  independence  of  the 


52  THE   NAVAJO  AND   HIS   BLANKET. 

Navajo  squaw  as  compared  with  the  women  of  adjacent  tribes. 
She  certainly  occupies  a  higher  plane  than  is  common  among 
women  of  the  North  American  Indians. 

The  Navajos  have  many  songs  illustrating  their  tribal  myths. 
Songs  for  the  storm,  rain  and  wind ;  songs  of  peace  and  war ;  songs 
of  love  and  hatred,  joy  and  sorrow.  Strangely  enough  the  Xavajo 
women  do  not  join  in  any  of  the  songs.  Her  neighbors,  the  Pueblo 
women,  sing  with  the  men  in  songs  of  ceremony;  and  the  "Metate," 
or  corn-grinding,  song  of  the  Zuni  women,  is  peculiarly  weird  and 
musical.  The  Navajo  woman  is  songless :  her  art  being  spinning 
and  weaving,  to  which  she  devotes  her  life.  Silently,  almost  sadly, 
but  all  the  while  devotedly,  she  toils,  and  is  an  example  of  patient 
industry  and  love  for  the  work  in  which  she  is  engaged. 

The  Navajos  have  a  few  fetiches  or  talismans,  supposed  to 
possess  mysterious  power,  and  to  be  the  habitations  of  deities  from 
which  aid  may  be  expected.  These  are  generally  represented  by 
an  animal;  the  horse  and  sheep  being  prominent  as  such  fetiches. 
The  horse  fetich  is  carved  from  white  limestone,  and  usually  the 
work  is  done  by  a  medicine  man.  It  is  carried  in  a  medicine  bag 
on  occasions  of  the  hunt,  or  of  any  important  undertaking  or  jour 
ney,  and  as  they  depend  upon  the  endurance  of  their  horses  in 
nearly  everything  they  udertake,  this  fetich  is  to  insure  the  strength 
of  the  animal.  ^  The  sheep  fetich  is  carved  from  white  spar,  and 
usually  is  finishecl  with  eyes  of  turquoise.  These  are  carried  by 
the  shepherds  to  insure  the  fecundity  of  their  flocks,  to  protect 
them  against  disease,  and  guard  them  against  animals  of  prey. 
These  two  charms  cover  the  most  important  two  possessions  of  the 
Navajos — the  horse  and  the  sheep,  and  are  the  only  ones  now  in 
use  of  which  I  have  any  certain  evidence. 

The  Navajos  have  many  superstitions,  and  believe  in  witch 
craft,  and  that  sickness  and  death  are  caused  bv  a  "Chinde"  or 
devil.  The  antidote  for  witchery  is  singing  and  drumming  over 
the  patient  by  friends  or  relatives,  and  if  this  does  not  effect  a  cure. 


THE   NAVAJO.  53 

the  "Shaman"  or  medicine  man  is  called  in.  They  believe  that  at 
the  ends  of  a  rainbow  they  will  find  messages  from  the  Great 
Spirit;  and  anything  bright  and  beautiful,  is  to  them  a  harbinger 
of  good. 

Early  travelers  in  the  Navajo  land  detail  the  story  of  an  old 
Navajo  sorcerer,  or  wizard,  who,  having  been  suspected  of  prac 
ticing  the  "black  art,"  confessed  it,  seemed  proud  of  his  pretended 
powers,  and  told  his  people  that  by  charms  of  human  hair  and  flesh, 
powdered  wolves'  teeth,  and  dried  and  powdered  lizards,  he  could 
destroy  the  whole  Navajo  nation.  He  was  tied,  shot  with  arrows, 
and  asked  why  he  did  not  kill  his  captors;  but  he  died  without 
having  injured  any  of  them.  He  was  probably  a  crazy  old  man,  and 
because  of  his  delusions  was  murdered  by  his  superstitious  people. 

The  Navajo  goddess  is  "Assunnutli"  (the  woman  in  the  sea). 
This  goddess  is  reputed  to  be  of  double  sex,  and  has  dispensed  many 
favors  to  the  Navajos;  having,  among  other  gracious  acts,  sent 
blue  corn  to  the  men,  and  white  corn  to  the  women.  When  property 
is  stolen  they  sing  to  "Assunnutli"  to  ascertain  the  identity  of  the 
culprit. 

Like  all  Indians,  the  Navajos  are  inveterate  gamblers,  and 
will  wager  everything  they  possess,  even  to  the  clothing  on  their 
backs.  They  are  fond  of  foot-racing  and  wrestling,  and  horse- 
racing  is  also  very  popular  with  them. 

Not  being  the  most  mighty  of  modern  Nimrods  in  the  chase, 
a  favorite  hunting  plan  of  the  Navajos  is  to  build  two  long  con 
verging  lines  of  brush  and  stones,  ending  at  an  enclosure,  into 
which  the  animals  are  driven  to  be  slaughtered.  All  animals  of 
prey  are  killed,  but  in  case  of  game  animals,  such  as  antelope,  or 
deer,  some  are  allowed  to  escape,  partly  on  account  of  superstition, 
and  partly  to  avoid  exterminating  a  valuable  food  supply. 

To  the  Navajos  the  bear  is  a  sacred  animal,  and  probably  be 
came  so  in  the  early  years  when  they  had  no  weapons  with  which 
to  successfully  combat  him;  the  idea  of  sacredness  arising  from 


54  THE   NAVAJO  AND    HIS   BLANKET. 

the  ability  of  the  bear  to  win  in  battle  with  them.  A  respect  for 
strength  and  invulnerability,  rather  than  regard  for  sacred  things, 
mav  thus  have  given  Bruin  a  place  among  their  deities. 

They  will  not  catch  nor  eat  fish.  When  the  white  men  first 
invaded  their  country  they  found  the  mountain  streams  fairly  alive 
with  trout,  which  would  not  have  been  the  case  if  the  Indians  had 
desired  them  for  food ;  as  they  had  sufficient  cunning  to  have  de 
pleted  the  streams  if  they  had  so  used  fish.  They  believe  that  the 
spirits  of  their  dead  enter  into  the  fish,  and  are  fond  of  relating 
the  fable  that  'long  time  ago"  their  people  killed  a  great  number 
of  their  enemies  in  battle  and  threw  the  bodies  into  the  river,  and 
that  the  bodies  turned  into  fish. 

Believing  that  the  wind  gives  them  life,  they  often  go  at  night 
to  some  high  place  during  a  storm  and  there  worship  the  elements 
(Figure  8).  The  heavy  rain  they  call  the  male  rain,  and  the  light 
rain  the  female  rain ;  believing  both  to  be  necessary  for  the  proper 
maturing  of  their  crops. 

The  Navajos  have  a  horror  of  the  dead,  as  well  as  of  any 
habitation  in  which  a  person  has  died;  and  as  many  of  the  old 
cliff  ruins  contain  the  remains  of  the  people  who  once  lived  in 
them,  they  will  not  under  any  circumstances  use  them  as  a  place  of 
residence.  The  nearest  they  come  to  this  is  that  oftentimes  they 
carry  away  stones  from  the  ruins  to  be  used  in  building  dwellings 
for  themselves. 

From  the  Conquest  of  Mexico,  up  to  1821,  the  land  of  the 
Xavajos  was  a  part  of  the  Spanish  territory.  In  1821  the  people 
of  Mexico  threw  off  the  Spanish  yoke  and  established  an  inde 
pendent  government.  Beginning  about  the  year  1750,  and  during 
all  the  subsequent  time  of  the  Spanish  and  the  Mexican  rule,  the 
Navajos  were  on  the  war-path.  They  made  frequent  raids  into 
the  country  south  of  them  and  occupied  by  the  Pueblo  Indians  and 
Mexicans,  and  ran  off  cattle,  sheep  and  horses,  and  carried  away 
such  grain  and  forage  as  they  could  transport.  In  retaliation,  the 


THE   NAVAJO.  55 

Mexicans  made  many  counter  expeditions  into  the  Navajo  country, 
which  became  the  scene  of  continual  warfare. 

Lieutenant  Pike,  writing-  from  New  Mexico  in  1808,  in  speak 
ing  of  the  "Nanahaws"  (Navajos),  states:  "The  Nanahaws  are 
situated  to  the  northwest  of  Santa  Fe,  and  are  frequently  at  war 
with  the  Spaniards.  They  are  supposed  to  be  two  thousand  warriors 
strong,  and  are  armed  with  bows  and  arrows  and  lances.  This 
nation,  as  well  as  all  others  to  the  west  of  them  bordering  on  Cali 
fornia,  speak  the  language  of  the  Apaches  and  Lee  Panis,  who  are 
in  a  line  with  them  to  the  Atlantic." 

Major  Emory,  in  his  "Notes  of  a  Military  Reconnoissance" 
in  the  summer  of  1846,  writes  as  follows  of  Las  Vegas,  New 
Mexico : 

"The  village,  at  a  short  distance,  looked  like  an  extensive 
brick-kiln.  Approaching,  its  outline  presented  a  square  with  some 
arrangements  for  defense.  Into  this  square  the  inhabitants  are 
sometimes  compelled  to  retreat,  with  all  their  stock,  to  avoid  the 
attacks  of  the  Eutaws  [Utes]  and  Navajos,  who  pounce  upon 
them  and  carry  off  their  women,  children  and  cattle.  Only  a  few 
days  since,  they  made  a  descent  on  the  town  and  carried  off  120 
sheep  and  other  stock.  As  Captain  Cooke  passed  through  the  town 
ten  clays  since,  a  murder  had  just  been  committed  on  these  help 
less  people." 

Major  Emory  quotes  the  address  made  by  Colonel  Kearney 
to  the  Mexicans  at  Santa  Fe,  August  15,  1846,  which  was  as 
follows : 

"Mr.  Alcalde,  and  people  of  New  Mexico:  I  have  come 
amongst  you  by  the  orders  of  my  government,  to  take  possession 
of  your  country,  and  extend  over  it  the  laws  of  the  United  States. 
We  consider  it,  and  have  done  so  for  some  time,  a  part  of  the 
territory  of  the  United  States.  We  come  amongst  you  as  friends 
—not  as  enemies ;  as  protectors — not  as  conquerors.  We  come 


56  THE   NAVAJO  AND   HIS   BLANKET. 

among  you  for  your  benefit — not  for  your  injury.  Henceforth  I 
absolve  you  from  all  allegiance  to  the  Mexican  government,  and 
from  all  obedience  to  General  Armijo.  He  is  no  longer  your  gov 
ernor.  (Great  sensation.)  I  am  your  governor.  I  shall  not  expect 
you  to  take  up  arms  and  follow  me,  to  fight  your  own  people,  who 
may  oppose  me ;  but  I  now  tell  you,  that  those  who  remain  peace 
ably  at  home,  attending  to  their  crops  and  their  herds,  shall  be 
protected  by  me,  in  their  property,  their  persons,  and  their  religion ; 
and  not  a  pepper,  not  an  onion,  shall  be  disturbed  or  taken  by  my 
troops,  without  pay,  or  by  the  consent  of  the  owner.  But  listen! 
He  who  promises  to  be  quiet,  and  is  found  in  arms  against  me, 
I  will  hang. 

"From  the  Mexican  government  you  have  never  received  pro 
tection.  The  Apaches  and  the  Navajos  come  down  from  the  moun 
tains  and  carry  off  your  sheep,  and  even  your  women,  whenever 
they  please.  My  government  will  correct  all  this.  It  will  keep 
off  the  Indians,  protect  you  in  your  persons  and  property;  and,  I 
repeat  again,  will  protect  you  in  your  religion.  I  know  you  are 
all  great  Catholics;  that  some  of  your  priests  have  told  you  all 
sorts  of  stories — that  we  should  ill-treat  your  women,  and  brand 
them  on  the  cheek  as  you  do  your  mules  on  the  hip.  It  is  all  false. 
My  government  respects  your  religion  as  much  as  the  Protestant 
religion,  and  allows  each  man  to  worship  his  Creator  as  his  heart 
tells  him  is  best.  Its  laws  protect  the  Catholic  as  well  as  the 
Protestant;  the  weak  as  well  as  the  strong;  the  poor  as  well  as 
the  rich.  I  am  not  a  Catholic  myself — I  was  not  brought  up  in  that 
faith ;  but,  at  least  one-third  of  my  army  are  Catholics,  and  I  respect 
a  good  Catholic  as  much  as  a  good  Protestant. 

"There  goes  my  army — you  see  but  a  small  portion  of  it;  there 
are  many  more  behind — resistance  is  useless." 

This  was  upon  the  first  entrance  into  Santa  Fe  by  the  United 
States  troops.  On  September  30,  1846,  writing  of  the  mountain 
country  northwest  of  Santa  Fe,  Major  Emory  says : 


THE   NAVAJO.  59 

"I  saw  here  the  hiding  places  of  the  Navajos,  who,  when  few 
in  numbers,  wait  for  the  night  to  descend  upon  the  valley  and  carry 
off  the  fruit,  sheep,  women  and  children  of  the  Mexicans.  When 
in  numbers,  they  come  in  day-time  and  levy  their  dues.  Their 
retreats  and  caverns  are  at  a  distance  to  the  west,  in  high  and  inac 
cessible  mountains,  where  troops  of  the  United  States  will  find  great 
difficulty  in  overtaking  and  subduing  them,  but  where  the  Mexicans 
have  never  thought  of  penetrating.  The  Navajos  may  be  termed 
the  lords  of  New  Mexico.  Few  in  number,  disdaining  the  cultiva 
tion  of  the  soil,  and  even  the  rearing  of  cattle,  they  draw  all  their 
supplies  from  the  valley  of  the  Del  Norte." 

This  conditon  continued,  and  for  many  years  after  the  United 
States  government  became  dominant  in  New  Mexico  and  Arizona 
the  Navajos  persisted  in  their  depredations,  robbing  and  plundering 
from  the  Mexicans  and  Pueblos,  and  from  our  own  people  as  well. 
An  expedition  was  organized  in  1863  under  the  direction  of  Kit 
Carson,  which  was  successful  in  capturing  the  Navajo  leaders  and 
compelling  a  general  surrender.  The  prisoners  were  then  taken 
under  military  guard  to  Fort  Sumner,  New  Mexico,  where  they 
were  held  until  1867,  when,  upon  their  promise  to  be  good,  they 
were  returned  to  their  old  home,  the  present  Navajo  reservation. 

At  that  time  there  were  about  8,000  in  captivity,  but  this  num 
ber  did  not,  however,  represent  the  full  strength  of  the  nation. 
Many  had  hidden  in  the  fastnesses  of  the  mountains,  and  others 
had  deserted  to  other  tribes  rather  than  go  as  prisoners  of  war  to 
Fort  Sumner.  As  near  as  can  be  ascertained,  they  numbered  at 
that  time  about  13,000  all  told,  but  they  have  since  steadily  in 
creased,  and  now  aggregate  somewhere  near  20,000.  Upon  their 
return  to  the  reservation  the  government  paid  them  four  annuities, 
and  in  1869  distributed  among  them  a  large  number  of  sheep  and 
goats.  Since  that  time  they  have  been  self-supporting,  excepting 
in  the  winter  of  1894-95,  when,  on  account  of  a  severe  drought 
in  the  preceding  summer,  their  crops  had  failed,  and  therefore 


60  THE   NAVAJO  AND   HIS   BLANKET. 

the  government  had  to  distribute  sufficient  rations  to  prevent  suf 
fering. 

The  Navajo  is  quite  free  from  the  signs  of  physical  degeneracy 
so  apparent  in  neighboring  tribes.  He  is  a  robust  Indian,  but  his 
type  is  not  a  fixed  one.  While  his  remote  ancestors  were  of  Atha 
bascan  stock,  and  much  of  the  stalwart  figure  of  the  true  Navajo 
is  traceable  to  that  origin,  the  numerous  accessions  from  other  tribes 
of  differing  physical  contour,  have  produced  a  decidedly  composite 
physical  condition  which  is  noticeable  in  difference  of  stature,  in 
facial  characteristics,  and  in  general  personal  appearance  among 
different  members  of  the  tribe.  It  is  likely  that  this  mixture  of 
the  blood  of  various  adjacent  tribes  with  that  of  the  original 
Xavajos,  has  had  much  to  do  in  bringing  about  their  present  su- 
l>erior  physical  and  mental  condition  as  compared  with  other  tribes 
in  that  region.  As  a  rule,  they  are  intelligent  above  the  average 
North  American  Indian,  which  is  demonstrated  by  the  advantage 
they  have  taken  of  really  unfavorable  conditions  to  become  inde 
pendent  of  help  from  the  government  and,  in  a  way,  to  become  rich. 

Their  marital  relations  are  peculiar  to  themselves,  and  a  Navajo 
may  take,  not  as  many  wives  as  he  can  support,  but  as  many  as  he 
can  manage;  and  having  reached  this  limit,  the  wives  do  much 
toward  supporting  the  husband.  The  men  are  the  herders  of  the 
sheep  and  cattle,  hunt  wild  game,  build  the  dwellings  and,  as  a 
rule,  till  what  little  land  is  cultivated. 

The  lineage  of  the  Navajo  is  traced  through  the  female  line. 
The  woman  may,  and  often  does,  own  the  flocks  of  sheep,  and  as 
owner  of  the  home  her  word  is  law  in  all  that  pertains  to  domestic 
affairs.  She  must,  however,  prepare  the  family  meals,  bring  the 
wood  and  water,  and  work  all  her  spare  time  at  spinning  and  weav 
ing.  She  has  absolute  control  of  her  children,  and  her  husband 
may  not  even  discipline  them  without  authority  from  her  to  do  so. 
The  only  exception  to  her  authority  over  the  affairs  of  her  offsping 
is  when  a  daughter  reaches  marriageable  age,  when  the  bargain 


THE    NAVAJO.  61 

or  sale  to  a  suitor  for  her  hand  must  be  made  with  the  father. 
If,  upon  trial,  a  wife  proves  unsatisfactory,  and  the  husband  can 
not  bring  about  a  trade  with  another  Indian  who  is  in  the  same 
trouble,  he  may  return  the  wife  to  her  parents;  but  the  purchase 
price  need  not  be  returned  to  the  dissatisfied  husband.  The  women 
do  not  consider  this  an  indignity.  If  a  Navajo  woman  is  fond  of 
her  husband,  her  conduct  is  usually  such  as  to  merit  his  approval ; 
but  it  is  quite  likely  that  if  she  rebels,  or  becomes  unsatisfactory, 
it  is  because  she  wishes  to  be  traded  to  some  one  she  likes  better, 
or  returned  to  her  home  to  await  a  new  matrimonial  venture. 

Their  food  is  of  the  simplest.  The  meat  most  generally  used 
is  mutton  and  the  flesh  of  the  goat,  which  are  stewed;  a  pot  for 
the  evening  meal  being  kept  on  the  fire  most  of  the  day.  This,  with 
bread  and  coffee,  constitutes  the  supper,  with  the  exception  that 
when  pumpkins,  potatoes  or  onions  are  in  supply,  they  are  usually 
stewed  with  the  meat.  They  have  no  tables  nor  chairs,  the  stew 
being  placed  on  the  earthen  floor  in  a  big  dish,  where  the  family 
gathers  around  it,  taking  out  the  food  with  the  fingers.  They 
always  eat  everything  in  sight;  nothing  is  left,  no  matter  how 
much  is  cooked.  As  a  rule  there  are  only  two  regular  meals, 
breakfast  and  supper ;  the  breakfast  being  the  simpler  meal  of  the 
two.  If  meat  is  used  at  all  for  breakfast,  it  is  fried  in  a  skillet, 
and  eaten  with  bread  and  coffee. 

Even  the  permanent  dwellings  are  almost  devoid  of  furniture 
—without  tables,  chairs  or  bedsteads.  They  have  plenty  of  blankets 
and  undressed  sheepskins,  and  when  an  Indian  gets  sleepy  he  rolls 
himself  in  a  blanket  and  lies  down  upon  the  floor  anywhere  that 
suits  him  best.  They  do  not  use  pillows.  The  only  article  of  fur 
niture  common  in  all  Indian  homes  of  the  southwest  is  a  pole  sus 
pended  from  the  ceiling  along  one  side  of  the  room,  which  does 
duty  as  a  wardrobe. 

As  relates  to  dress,  the  woman  is  the  more  barbaric  in  her 
fancy.  Gaudy  calicos  and  bright  red  woolen  cloths  are  used  for 


02  THE  NAVAJO  AND   HIS   BLANKET. 

skirts  which,  with  sashes  or  belts  of  bright  color,  beads,  silver  and 
copper  ornaments,  and  fancy  beaded  moccasins  and  leggings,  con 
stitute  her  chief  desires;  and  in  these,  she  dresses  herself  as  occa 
sion  may  require.  The  working  dress  of  a  squaw  is  usually  a  loose, 
ill-fitting  garment  of  calico  reaching  to  the  knees ;  the  legs  and  feet 
being  incased  in  buckskin  leggings  and  moccasins  without  orna 
mentation.  She  cares  nothing  for  a  head-dress  of  any  kind,  except 
ing  a  careless  arrangement  of  the  long,  thick,  jet-black  hair  Nature 
gave  her,  which  is  parted  in  the  middle,  and  either  allowed  to  hang 
at  will,  or  gathered  or  tied  in  a  knot,  or  made  into  a  long  braid. 

The  marriage  ceremony  seems  to  have  no  fixed  form,  the  rite 
usually  consisting  of  eating  in  some  manner,  and  is  quite  simple. 
Sometimes  a  cake  or  loaf,  prepared  by  the  medicine  man,  is  placed 
on  the  ground,  and  at  other  times  a  pudding  is  used ;  either  of 
which  the  medicine  man  marks  off  in  lines  and  spaces,  for  a  reason 
we  do  not  understand.  The  prospective  bride  and  groom  are 
seated  beside  the  food,  and  at  a  signal  they  eat — the  man  beginning 
and  the  woman  following — taking  the  food  from  along  the  lines 
marked  out.  When  the  circuit  of  the  cake,  or  loaf,  or  pudding,  is 
completed,  they  stand  up  and  are  pronounced  man  and  wife.  After 
the  ceremony  the  squaws  prepare  a  feast,  and  singing  and  dancing 
are  kept  up  until  all  are  tired  out.  In  some  instances  the  medicine 
man  pours  water  upon  the  hands  of  the  bride  and  groom  just  before 
eating  begins,  and  at  other  times  they  go  together  to  a  spring  or 
stream  and  wash  each  other's  hands  prior  to  the  ceremony  of  eat 
ing.  There  are  other  unimportant  variations  in  the  ceremony,  but 
the  above  will  convey  a  general  idea  of  the  marriage  rite. 

An  unfortunate  feature  of  Navajo  domestic  life  is  the  common 
aversion  of  the  husband  to  the  wife's  mother,  but  there  is  no 
mother-in-law  interference  in  domestic  affairs.  After  marriage 
the  husband  will  not  look  at  or  speak  to  his  mother-in-law,  and 
must  have  no  communication  with  her  under  penalty  of  some 
blight  upon  his  life.  They  believe  that  if  a  husband  gazes  upon 


THE    NAVAJO.  03 

his  mother-in-law  he  will  lose  his  eyesight,  or  that  some  other 
terrible  calamity  will  happen  to  him.  It  is  the  duty  of  the  mother- 
in-law  to  announce  her  approach,  so  that  the  husband  can  conceal 
himself  until  she  has  gone. 

The  case  of  Pablo,  a  Navajo  singer,  whose  picture  appears  in 
Figure  7,  is  a  present  example  in  point.  He  puts  on  his  best  and 
struts  arid  poses  in  great  style  until  he  scents  his  mother-in-law, 
when  he  disappears  into  hiding,  a  sneaking  coward  until  she  is  gone. 

As  the  Navajo  is  polygamous,  it  is  possible  that  this  singular 
custom  originated  in  a  theory  of  protection  for  the  husband.  A 
man  with  half  a  dozen  wives  would  have  as  many  mothers-in-law, 
and,  according  to  beliefs  prevalent  among  white  people,  would  also 
have  a  pretty  hard  time  if  all  of  them  exercised  influence  over  his 
household.  Therefore  such  a  custom  may  be  a  very  grave  necessity 
in  Navajo  land. 


HABITATIONS 


FIGURE    u —     *   "may  be  almost  anything  that  can  be 
considered  a  shelter" 


THE  habitations  of  a  prim 
itive  people  are  of  especial 
interest  because  they  are 
always  typical ;  each  order 
of  rough  architecture  be 
ing  in  harmony  with  the 
type  of  man  who  built  it, 
and  in  keeping  with  his 
manner  of  life.  As  in  in 
fluencing  his  industries, 
climatic  conditions,  the 
general  character  of  the 
land  on  which  he  lives,  mountains,  plains,  or  forests,  will  modify 
to  some  extent  his  methods  of  providing  shelter.  But  as  a  rule, 
the  changes  will  not  show  marked  departure  from  the  general  type 
evolved  and  long  followed  by  a  primitive  tribe  of  people,  unless 
there  has  been  something  like  a  revolution  in  modes  of  living. 

Such  a  revolution  befell  the  Navajos,  and  brought  about  a 
corresponding  change  in  the  forms  of  their  abodes.  As  already 
related,  prior  to  the  time  that  they  became  possessed  of  sheep,  cattle 
and  horses  they  lived  in  the  open  field,  and  as  plunderers  of  their 
neighbors.  In  no  sense  an  agricultural  people  and  without  fixed 
habitations  in  that  period  of  their  career,  the  change  from  a  con 
dition  of  continued  nomadic  warfare  to  that  of  a  pastoral  life,  was 
a  very  great  one. 

The  Navajo  is  not  a  dweller  in  tents,  wigwams  or  tepees,  as  we 
know  these  forms  of  habitations.  Long  use  of  a  word  often  leads 
to  the  belief  that  the  word  was  coined  because  it  so  fitly  described 


M  THE   NAVAJO  AND    HIS   BLANKET. 

the  object.  \Ye  think  a  wigwam  is  named  just  right  to  describe 
that  kind  of  a  structure;  long  association  of  the  word  with  the 
object  having  been  the  means  of  such  perfect  reconciliation.  The 
Xavajo  house  is  a  "hogan,"  and,  although  the  name  is  a  compara 
tively  new  word,  it  seems  to  fit.  The  original  Navajo  word  is 
"qugan,"  early  converted  into  the  popular  name  hogan,  by  which 
his  home  is  known  wherever  the  Navajo  Indian  is  known.  An 
expression  made  by  a  friend  of  mine  when  he  first  saw  a  Navajo 
home — "Well,  it  is  a  hogan,  sure  enough,"  illustrates  the  fitness  of 
the  name,  which  is  applied  to  the  two  distinct  forms,  the  winter  and 
the  summer  hogan.  From  a  little  distance  the  winter  hogan  looks 
like  a  rough  conical  mound  of  earth,  with  an  opening  into  darkness. 

The  Navajo  hogan  (Figure  12),  at  Putnam  Springs,  New 
Mexico,  is  typical  of  the  winter  habitation.  The  photograph  was 
taken  during  a  time  of  drought,  when  the  structure  was  deserted ; 
which  accounts  for  the  absence  of  a  blanket  from  the  doorway. 
This  is  an  old  hogan,  showing  many  repairs  by  additions  of  branches 
of  trees  to  secure  the  earth  covering,  and  of  the  gnarled  cedar  trunks 
supporting  the  door-frame.  Unsightly  and  unshapely  as  it  may 
appear,  it  is  built  according  to  rule ;  a  rule  so  rigid  as  to  be  almost 
a  religious  ceremony,  and  requiring  every  detail  to  be  strictly 
carried  out. 

When  a  winter  hogan  is  to  be  built  the  site  is  usually  chosen 
in  a  secluded  or  sheltered  spot ;  the  choice  always  being  such  as 
will  permit  the  door  to  face  the  east.  The  ground  is  leveled,  and 
then  a  circle  is  drawn  of  the  desired  size ;  there  being  no  general  rule 
as  to  the  diameter  or  height  of  a  hogan.  From  about  a  foot  inside 
this  circle  the  ground  is  dug  out  to  a  depth  of  twelve  or  eighteen 
inches,  and  the  bottom  of  this  basin-like  excavation  is  the  floor  of 
the  hogan,  to  reach  which  a  downward  step  or  two  must  be  taken; 
the  foot  or  so  of  undisturbed  soil  left  around  it,  and  concentric 
with  the  circle,  forming  a  circular  seat  or  bench  that  encompasses 
the  depressed  floor.  \Yhen  this  floor  is  smoothed  and  stamped  until 


1  —  An   old   blanket   of"  native   wool   in   natural 
colors  and   native   dves. 


HABITATIONS.  67 

it  is  level  and  hard,  the  foundation  is  considered  complete.  Usually 
the  builder  of  such  a  home  calls  to  his  assistance  a  number  of  his 
friends,  and  the  building  is  completed  in  one  day.  Men  are  first 
sent  out  for  the  principal  five  timbers  or  poles.  Each  of  three  of 
these  must  be  forked  at  one  end,  and  of  such  shape  as  to  firmly 
interlock  when  placed  in  position;  the  other  two,  sticks  for  the 
doorway,  should  be  straight  poles ;  all  being  trimmed  and  the  bark 
taken  off  as  a  rough  finish.  The  forked  poles  are  laid  on  the 
ground,  the  forked  ends  together,  and  with  the  butts  so  arranged 
that  each  is  outside  the  circle;  one  at  the  north,  one  at  the  west, 
and  one  at  the  south.  The  two  straight  poles  are  then  laid  with 
their  butts  to  the  east,  and  with  the  tops  just  inside  the  forks  of 
the  other  three,  and  far  enough  apart  to  leave  the  desired  space 
for  the  doorway.  The  timbers  or  poles  used  are  usually  from 
eight  to  twelve  inches  in  diameter  and  from  ten  to  twelve  feet  long. 
In  rearing  the  framework  of  the  edifice,  the  three  forked  tim 
bers  are  raised  upright  and  then  leaned  toward  the  center  until 
the  forks  lock.  The  poles  for  the  doorway  are  placed  at  the  same 
ground  distance  from  the  center  as  the  others,  and  leaning  inward 
and  converging  until  their  tops  rest  on  each  side  of  the  apex;  say, 
one  foot  apart  at  the  top,  and  spreading  to  about  four  feet  apart 
at  the  base,  leaving  an  opening  from  the  outer  circle  of  the  base 
to  the  center  of  the  house.  Two  posts  with  forked  tops  are  then 
planting  upright  between  the  door-poles  at  their  base,  standing  about 
:ive  feet  high,  and  across  these  a  lintel  is  placed  in  their  forks ;  this 
arrangement  forming  the  doorway,  proper,  over  which  a  blanket 
is  usually  hung.  The  space  between  the  top  of  this  vertical  door 
frame  and  the  leaning  door-poles  behind  it,  is  levelly  roofed  over 
until  it  comes  in  contact  with  the  two  converging  door-poles,  and 
at  the  inward  end  of  this  bit  of  flat  roof  an  opening  is  left  through 
which  smoke  may  escape.  The  sides  of  the  structure  are  now  filled 
in  with  smaller  poles,  the  butts  resting  on  the  circle,  with  their 
tops  reaching  to  the  apex.  After  these  poles  are  placed  as  closely 


68 


THE   NAVAJO  AND   HIS    BLANKET. 


together  as  possible,  cedar  boughs  are  woven  in.  and  if  convenient, 
the  whole  is  covered  with  pine  or  cedar  bark.  The  entire  edifice 
is  then  further  covered  with  earth  to  a  depth  of  from  four  to  eight 
inches,  and  the  house  is  complete.  A  hogan  from  sixteen  to 
eighteen  feet  in  diameter  averages  about  eight  feet  in  interior  height 
above  the  center  of  the  floor. 


FU;I;KK     12— A      NAVAJO     WINTER      HOGAN 

Colonel  Cecil  A.  Deane  writes  me  as  follows  concerning  some 
hogans  of  peculiar  form  observed  by  him : 

'The  hogans  I  refer  to  I  have  seen  only  at  one  place,  and  I 
think  they  have  never  been  described  in  government  reports  nor 
by  any  writer.  On  the  little-traveled  road  leading  in  a  southwest 
erly  direction  from  the  great  ruins  on  the  Charco  to  Gallup,  N.  M., 
about  ten  miles  northeast  of  the  Continental  Divide,  and  thirty 
miles  northeast  of  Gallup,  we  find  a  group  of  eight  hogans  at  a 
place  called  Tigue  (pronounced  Togay).  The  peculiar  location 


HABITATIONS.  69 

of  these  hogans  is  worthy  of  notice.  At  some  remote  period  of 
time,  a  lake,  comprising  perhaps  2,000  acres,  covered  the  present 
site  of  the  hogans.  Either  because  of  the  breaking  of  its  retaining 
boundary,  or  because  of  evaporation,  or  both,  the  lake  became  dry, 
leaving  a  perfectly  level  surface — even  now  wholly  devoid  of  vege 
tation.  Near  the  east  margin  of  the  lake  bed  are  numerous  springs, 
a  few  of  which  discharge  tepid  water.  Around  each  spring  is 
found  a  circular  deposit  of  dark  sedimentary  matter  of  perhaps  three 
or  four  feet  in  height,  which  has  been  left  by  the  overflowing 
waters,  none  of  which  is  fit  for  use.  Right  in  the  midst  of  these 
miniature  geysers,  we  find  a  large  spring  of  clear,  cold  water,  which 
is  enclosed  with  walls  of  stone  brought  from  the  adjacent  bluffs, 
and  near  it  are  the  eight  hogans  I  have  referred  to.  They  are 
circular  in  form,  each  about  fifteen  feet  in  diameter  and  eight  feet 
at  their  greatest  height.  The  walls  are  made  of  rough-dressed 
cedar  or  pinon  logs,  laid  horizontally,  having  half-locking  mortices 
at  either  end,  and  of  such  length  as  results  in  a  nearly  vertical  wall 
to  a  height  of  about  four  feet,  when  their  length  is  gradually  re 
duced  till  the  apex  is  reached,  where  an  opening  is  left  for  the 
escape  of  smoke  from  the  fire  which  burns  in  the  center  of  the 
hogan.  The  doorway  is,  as  in  all  instances,  on  the  east  side,  which 
is  closed  by  a  blanket  suspended  from  a  horizontal  lintel.  The 
space  between  the  logs  is  filled  with  small  blocks  of  wood,  and 
clay  mortar,  and  the  exterior  surface  is  plastered  with  that  ma 
terial.  No  part  of  the  floor  is  sunk  below  the  general  level,  as  I 
have  observed  in  hogans  of  other  types,  and  the  obtuse  angle  formed 
where  the  walls  meet  the  floor  is  used  as  a  place  of  storage  for 
the  cooking  utensils,  blankets,  etc.,  usually  found  in  a  Navajo 
home.  When  I  visited  these  hogans  in  the  spring  of  1900,  all  were 
occupied,  but  I  was  informed  through  my  interpreter,  that  the 
greatest  number  of  their  owners  were  more  or  less  distant  with 
their  flocks  of  sheep  or  goats.  As  I  was  informed  that  this  spring, 
which  supplies  water  for  the  occupants  of  these  hogans,  is  the  only 


70  THE  NAVAJO  AND   HIS   BLANKET. 

spring  of  living  water  within  a  radius  of  about  fifty  miles,  we  may 
reasonably  infer  that  the  permanency  of  the  water  is  the  cause 
of  the  permanent  character  of  the  hogans." 

A  Navajo  summer  hogan  is  a  structure  altogether  different 
from  the  winter  home,  and  may  be  almost  anything  (Figure  n) 
that  can  be  considered  a  shelter.  A  circle  of  pine  or  cedar  boughs, 
either  planted  in  the  earth  or  piled  up  three  or  four  feet  high,  is 
one  form.  In  this  an  opening  is  left  in  one  side,  the  one  most 
convenient,  and  without  regard  to  points  of  the  compass  which 
are  so  important  in  the  case  of  the  winter  hogan.  In  the  center  of 
this  a  fire  is  built,  blankets  are  thrown  over  projecting  branches 
for  shade  and  cover,  and  in  the  enclosure  the  household  labors  and 
other  duties  are  carried  on.  The  family  eat  and  sleep,  the  squaw 
sets  up  her  loom,  and  weaving  and  other  work  go  on  just  as  regu 
larly  and  as  industriously  as  in  the  more  pretentious  home. 

The  house  just  described  is  the  Navajos'  rudest  or  simplest 
form  of  construction.  There  are  degrees  of  betterment  according 
to  the  length  of  time  the  shelter  is  expected  to  be  used,  or  to  the 
facilities  or  material  at  hand  for  construction.  An  excavation  in  a 
hillside,  covered  and  sided  with  poles  and  brush,  but  with  the  entire 
front  left  open,  is  another  form.  Rough  wralls  of  stone,  two  or 
three  feet  high,  arranged  in  a  semi-circle  and  covered  with  any 
handy  material  is  still  another.  A  perpendicular  wall  of  rock  is 
sometimes  utilized  as  a  support  for  a  "lean-to"  constructed 
against  it. 

A  rather  picturesque  summer  hogan  is  the  one  shown  in 
Figure  3,  which  is  from  a  photograph  by  Goodman,  of  Bluff,  Utah. 
It  is  simply  a  frame  of  small  trees,  with  the  front  entirely  open ; 
the  roof  and  three  sides  being  lightly  covered  with  branches  of 
cottonwood  and  willow  trees  with  the  leaves  left  on  them. 

So  the  forms  vary  as  conditions  of  occupation,  location  and 
materials  vary,  or  as  the  industry  or  ingenuity  of  the  builders 
differ.  Occasionally  a  rich  Navajo  will  build  a  hogan  of  logs  or  of 


HABITATIONS.  71 

rough  stones  laid  up  without  mortar,  and  covered  with  timbers 
and  earth ;  and  he  may  also  be  ambitious  enough  to  add  a  window, 
but  if  he  does  so  it  is  never  opened. 

This  form  of  winter  hogan  is  shown  in  Figure  13.  The  pic 
ture  clearly  exhibits  the  method  of  construction,  and  also  the  forms 
of  "Hostine"  (Mr.)  Joe,  and  the  old  medicine  man  who  owns  the 
outfit;  the  former  on  the  left,  and  the  latter  on  the  right.  So 
great  a  departure  from  the  usual  type  of  winter  hogan  is  very 
modern,  and  is  prompted  by  a  desire  to  imitate  the  white  man. 

It  will  be  noted  that  Navajo  habitations  are  not,  as  a  rule,  of 
a  very  permanent  character.  A  home  that  may  be  built  and  dedi 
cated  to  use  in  a  day,  is  not  of  great  value,  and  may,  for  good 
reason,  be  abandoned  at  any  time.  For  this,  ill  luck,  sickness,  or 
death  may  be  sufficient  cause,  and  therefore  we  find  many  deserted 
hogans  that  are  in  fairly  good  condition  for  occupation.  As  a 
strong  superstition  forbids  further  use  of  a  hogan  in  which  a  person 
has  died,  often  it  is  then  destroyed;  as  no  one  of  the  tribe  can  be 
persuaded  to  enter  it,  much  less  live  in  it. 

Of  late  years,  if  the  owner  of  a  hogan  considers  it  of  more 
than  ordinary  value,  or  is  too  lazy  to  construct  a  new  one,  he  sees 
to  it  that  the  sick  person  is  carried  out,  so  that  if  he  dies,  he  must 
die  out  of  doors,  and  thus  save  the  good  reputation  of  the  house. 

Another  quite  common  structure,  and  well  distributed  over 
the  entire  area  of  Navajo  territory,  is  the  "sweat-house."  This  is 
a  miniature  hogan,  capable  of  accommodating  only  one  person, 
who  is  required  to  take  a  lying  or  sitting  position  in  it.  It  is  freely 
used  by  the  sick,  and  often  by  the  well ;  and  is  one  of  the  medicine 
man's  "strong  cards"  for  the  cure  of  disease,  and  for  the  casting 
out  of  evil  spirits.  After  stones  have  been  heated  and  placed  inside, 
the  patient  crawls  in,  the  opening  is  closed,  and  he  is  soon  in  a  pro 
fuse  perspiration.  When  he  has  cooked  long  enough,  he  is  taken 
out  and  rubbed  dry  wfth  dry  sand.  The  results  as  described  by 


72  THE   NAVAJO  AND   HIS   BLANKET. 

the  Navajos  are  much  the  same  as  those  from  our  more  elaborate 
Turkish  baths. 

In  Figure  6  is  shown  a  sweathouse  covered  with  a  Navajo 
blanket  to  retain  the  heat  better;  the  remains  of  the  fire  in  which 
the  stones  were  heated  appearing  in  the  foreground.  A  patient  was 
inside  undergoing  the  sweating  ordeal  when  the  photograph  was 
taken ;  and  to  obtain  the  privilege  of  taking  it  Mr.  Matteson  was 
required  to  negotiate  satisfactorily  for  a  buckskin  the  attendant 
Indians  desired  to  sell. 

When  a  Navajo  hogan  has  been  completed,  it  must  be  dedicated 
by  a  ritual  ceremony.  The  woman  first  clears  the  house  of  all 
rubbish  accumulated  in  building,  whereupon  the  husband  builds 
a  fire  directly  under  the  smoke  hole.  He  then  rubs  the  timbers 
with  white  corn  meal,  and  also  strews  some  of  it  in  a  circle  around 
the  fire,  while  repeating  in  slow,  measured  tones,  the  ritual  of  dedi 
cation.  All  the  neighbors  are  then  invited  in  and  the  ceremonial 
songs  are  sung,  by  which  evil  spirits  are  frightened  away,  and 
happiness,  health  and  good  luck  invoked  for  the  occupants. 

As  their  hogans  are  not  as  a  general  rule  built  in  the  open, 
but  concealed  among  the  pines  and  cedars,  or  in  the  canons,  no 
definite  idea  can  be  obtained  of  the  population  of  the  country  by 
merely  passing  through  it.  In  recent  years  the  common  Sibley 
tent  has  been  used  in  summer  to  some  extent,  as  it  is  less  work  to 
take  it  down,  move  and  set  it  up  again,  than  to  build  even  the 
simplest  summer  hogan. 

The  medicine  lodges  are  built  much  after  the  style  of  the 
hogans,  but  usually  much  larger.  In  these  the  medicine  men  live, 
and  nearly  all  the  ceremonial  religious  rites  are  celebrated  in  them. 
Most  authorities  agree  that  the  Navajo  is  not  a  particularly  religious 
Indian,  for  the  reason,  I  suppose,  that  he  does  not  make  much  ado 
about  it.  He  has  no  public  snake  dances  nor  other  ceremonies  that 
are  likely  to  attract  the  attention  of  a  casual  visitor;  nor  does  he 
set  up  totem  poles  or  idols  in  his  public  places.  His  only  conspicu- 


THE   NAVAJO.  75 

ous  appliance  of  worship  is  the  altar  in  the  medicine  lodge,  which 
is  hidden  from  the  sight  of  white  men,  excepting  those  who  are 
in  very  great  favor  . 

These  altars  are  fantastically  ornamented  with  feathers,  stalks 
and  tassels  of  corn,  grain,  grasses  and  the  like,  and  on  the  floor  in 
front  of  the  altar,  are  strewed  strange  symbols  in  colored  sand— 
''sand  paintings,"  as  they  are  called  by  white  folks;  and  over  these 
the  incantations  are  made,  prayers  are  said  and  songs  are  sung, 
to  invoke  happiness,  and  success  in  their  every  undertaking. 

Their  songs  of  ceremony  are  according  to  long  established  rule, 
and  are  known  only  to  the  medicine  men.  The  medicine  men 
always  demand  pay  for  interceding  with  the  gods,  and  a  song  or 
prayer  commands  a  price  commensurate  with  the  importance  of  the 
case  and  of  the  assistance  asked;  and  also  with  the  ability  of  the 
applicant  to  pay.  In  this,  as  in  many  other  things,  our  Navajo 
friend  travels  on  lines  parallel  with  those  followed  by  many  of  his 
more  enlightened  white  brethren. 

Professor  George  H.  Pepper  relates  that  an  old  medicine  man 
told  him  that  he  "often  used  colored  clay  and  stones,  but  that  they 
did  no  good — the  patient  only  thought  so ;  which  was  one  way 
of  saying  that  it  was  simply  'mind  cure.'  I  was  glad  to  hear  this 
from  an  old  medicine  man  of  good  standing,  for  it  served  to  show 
how  readily  they  would  accept  a  new  regime  in  the  medicine 
world." 


THE    BEGINNING 


FIGURE    14 — *    *   "familiar  landmarks  today,   but  which 
were  far  more  populous  then  than  now" 


THE  Spaniards'  thirst  for 
gold  stirred  them  to 
undertake  the  most  haz 
ardous  and  difficult  ad 
ventures.  They  had  con 
quered  Mexico,  laying 
waste  the  fair  land  of  the 
Aztecs;  and  in  doing  so 
they  disregarded  all  hon 
orable  rules  of  conquest. 
They  burned  and  pillaged 
and  murdered,  until  the 
admiration  that  was  excited  by  their  ambition  and  valor,  was  lost 
in  the  shame  of  the  civilized  world  for  the  barbarous  warfare  they 
had  waged  against  the  peaceful  and  civilized  Aztecs. 

After  they  had  established  themselves  in  New  Spain — the 
territory  now  known  as  Mexico — they  began  at  once  to  plan  ex 
plorations  to  regions  of  the  north,  about  the  wealth  of  which  they 
had  heard  fabulous  tales ;  and  were  particularly  anxious  to  penetrate 
as  far  as  the  mythical  Seven  Cities  of  Cibola,  having  heard  especially 
remarkable  stories  of  their  opulence. 

The  first  expedition  was  that  of  Coronado  in  1540,  but  was 
without  any  very  important  results.  In  1582,  General  Espejo  or 
ganized  and  led  another  expedition,  and  as  early  as  1600  the  subju 
gation  of  the  natives  was  practically  completed,  and  the  Spanish 
colonization  of  New  Mexico  had  begun.  The  subjugated  people 
were  forcibly  converted  to  the  religion  of  the  invaders,  and  then 
enslaved. 


7-  THE  NAVAJO  AND   HIS   BLANKET. 

The  Pueblo  Indians'  Great  Deity  was  the  God  of  Nature ;  their 
Creed,  peace  and  harmony.  The  white  man's  God  of  Revelation 
brought  to  them  the  example  of  carnage,  oppression  and  slavery; 
and  they  endured  the  indignities  put  upon  them  by  inhuman 
masters,  until  even  patient  Pueblo  human  nature  could  endure  it 
no  longer.  Among  the  traditions  preserved  by  the  present  clans  of 
this  once  numerous  and  powerful  tribe,  is  one  to  the  effect  that  the 
culminating  cause  of  their  ancestors'  rebellion  against  their  cruel 
enslavers  was  that  several  hundreds  of  their  people  had  been 
smothered  in  mines  in  which  they  were  compelled  to  work. 

Lieutenant  Pike's  narrative  of  events  in  New  Mexico,  written 
while  he  was  at  Santa  Fe  in  1808,  shows  that  the  cruelties  practiced 
by  the  Spaniards  prior  to  the  insurrection  in  1680,  were  continued 
up  to  the  time  of  his  visit.  The  retribution  he  invoked  came  with  the 
Mexican  War : 

"The  civilized  Indians  of  the  Province  of  New  Mexico  con 
sist  of  what  were  formerly  twenty-four  different  bands,  the  several 
names  of  which  I  was  not  able  to  learn.  But  the  Keres  were  one 
of  the  most  powerful ;  they  form  at  present  the  population  of  St. 
Domingo,  St.  Philip's  and  Deis,  and  one  or  two  other  towns.  They 
are  men  of  large  stature,  round,  full  visage,  fine  teeth,  and  appear 
to  be  of  a  gentle,  tractable  disposition ;  they  resemble  the  Osage 
more  than  any  nation  in  my  knowledge.  Although  they  are  not 
the  vassals  of  individuals,  yet  they  may  properly  be  termed  the 
slaves  of  the  state ;  for  they  are  compelled  to  do  military  duty,  drive 
mules,  carry  loads,  or  in  fact  perform  any  other  act  of  duty  or 
bondage  that  the  will  of  the  commandant  of  the  district,  or  any 
passing  military  tyrant,  chooses  to  ordain.  I  \vas  myself  eye 
witness  to  a  scene  which  made  my  heart  bleed  for  these  poor 
wretches  at  the  same  time  that  it  excited  my  indignation  and  con 
tempt,  that  they  should  suffer  themselves  with  arms  in  their  hands 
to  be  beaten  and  knocked  about,  by  beings  no  ways  their  superiors, 
unless  a  small  tint  of  complexion  could  be  supposed  to  give  that 


THE    BEGINNING.  79 

superiority.  Before  we  arrived  at  Santa  Fe,  one  night  we  rested 
near  one  of  the  villages  where  resided  the  families  of  two  of  our 
horsemen.  They  took  the  liberty  to  pay  them  a  visit  in  the  night. 
Next  morning  the  whole  were  called  up,  and  because  they  refused 
to  testify  against  their  imprudent  companions,  several  were  knocked 
down  from  their  horses  by  the  Spanish  dragoons  with  the  butt  end 
of  their  lances ;  yet  with  the  blood  streaking  down  their  visage,  and 
arms  in  their  hands,  they  stood  cool  and  tranquil !  Not  a  frown, 
not  a  word  of  discontent  or  palliation  escaped  their  lips.  Yet,  what 
must  have  been  the  boiling  indignation  of  their  souls,  at  the  insults 
offered  by  the  wretch,  clothed  with  a  little  brief  authority.  But 
the  day  of  retribution  will  come  in  thunder  and  in  vengeance." 

In  the  year  1675,  under  crafty  leaders,  the  Pueblos  began 
plotting  rebellion,  and  all  the  tribes  in  central  and  northern  New 
Mexico  soon  joined  in  the  determination  to  drive  the  Spaniards 
from  their  land.  From  Pecos  on  the  east  to  Moqui  on  the  west, 
from  Taos  on  the  north  to  Isleta  on  the  south,  the  seeds  of  rebellion 
were  sown.  They  took  deep  root  in  the  hearts  of  the  zealous 
devotees  of  the  religion  of  the  Indian,  and  were  stimulated  by  hatred 
of  the  religion  or  Christianity  of  the  Spaniards.  The  villages  of 
Taos,  San  Ildelfonso,  Isleta,  Laguna,  Acoma,  Zuni  and  Moqui, 
most  of  which  are  familiar  landmarks  to-day  (Figure  14),  but" 
which  were  far  more  populous  then  than  now,  all  joined  to  free 
their  land  from  the  hated  Spaniards;  and  they  were  successful. 

In  the  year  1680,  their  victory  was  made  complete  and  not  a 
Spaniard  was  left  alive  in  all  their  territory,  over  which  Spanish 
power  had  ruled  so  unwisely. 

During  that  period  of  affliction  the  peaceful  nature  of  the 
Pueblos  had  greatly  changed.  The  reader  will  remember  that  in 
all  their  narratives  the  Spaniards  mention  the  Pueblos  as  "civilized" 
Indians ;  even  before  they  had  succeeded  in  occupying  their  terri 
tory.  The  white  man  had  taught  them  the  beauty  of  conquest  and 
carnage,  and  they  had  acquired  the  taste  for  human  blood. 


80  THE   NAVAJO  AND   HIS   BLANKET. 

As  the  Spaniards  retreated,  the  Indians  first  gave  way  to  re 
joicing;  then  to  destroying  everything  that  reminded  them  of  Span 
ish  rule.  The  churches  were  burned,  as  were  all  official  documents 
relating  to  Spanish  government,  and  the  priests  were  subjected  to 
great  indignities.  Their  robes  were  worn  in  mockery,  then  torn 
to  shreds  and  burned,  that  there  might  be  no  relic  left  of  a  religion 
that  had  been  so  closely  associated  with  Pueblo  misfortunes.  Those 
of  the  tribe  who  had  been  baptized,  were  washed  in  public  places, 
to  cleanse  them  of  what  they  thought  to  be  evil  influences.  Then, 
being  their  own  masters  again,  they  were  confronted  with  a  problem 
more  difficult  than  they  had  anticipated — the  problem  of  self- 
government. 

During  the  period  of  Spanish  domination,  such  tribal  laws  as 
the  Pueblos  had  had  before  the  coming  of  the  Spaniards  had  been 
almost  forgotten  by  the  old,  while  the  young  had  never  personally 
known  them.  Hating  bitterly  the  laws  and  the  rule  which  they 
had  overthrown,  freedom  was  accompanied  by  extremely  diversi 
fied  sentiments  among  the  people,  and  therefore  they  soon  found 
the  problem  of  self-government  a  difficult  one.  An  attempt  was 
made  to  unite  all  the  tribes  under  the  direction  of  a  single  ruler, 
but  there  were,  however,  too  many  conflicting  interests;  too  many 
village  clans ;  too  many  ambitious  chiefs ;  too  many  crafty,  design 
ing  medicine  men ;  and  not  sufficient  knowledge  of  even  the  simplest 
tribal  laws  to  stem  the  current  of  dissention  that  finally  arose.  They 
began  fighting  among  themselves,  and  civil  strife  destroyed  the 
power  of  numbers. 

The  Spaniards  took  advantage  of  the  situation,  and  by  1694, 
just  fourteen  years  after  the  insurrection,  General  Vargas  had  re 
conquered  the  whole  field,  and  his  people  were  again  in  full  pos 
session. 

All  this  was  in  the  interest  of  our  friends,  the  Navajos,  who 
had  taken  no  part  in  the  insurrection  of  1675-80,  and  had  not  aided 
the  Pueblos  against  the  second  coming  of  the  Spaniards.  As  either 


THE    BEGINNING.  81 

the  Pueblos  or  the  Spaniards  presented  an  unprotected  point,  they 
took  advantage  of  it  to  rob  and  plunder,  and  in  this  way  accumulated 
stores  of  food,  secured  many  sheep,  and  grew  stronger  while  the 
Pueblos  were  growing  weaker.  Upon  the  return  of  the  Spaniards 
many  Pueblos  had  joined  the  Navajos,  preferring  to  become  even 
Navajos  rather  than  again  to  live  under  Spanish  rule.  The  deserters 
from  the  Pueblos  were  in  sufficient  number  to  add  materially  to 
the  strength  of  the  Navajos,  and  from  that  date  the  latter  began 
to  rank  as  the  most  powerful  of  the  southwestern  Indian  tribes. 
In  the  foregoing  some  of  the  historical  circumstances  under 
which  the  art  of  weaving  was  introduced  among  the  Navajos  are 
outlined.  Their  first  step  toward  it  was  in  the  acquisition  of  wool- 
bearing  sheep  by  their  plundering  raids,  but  their  first  knowledge 
and  practice  of  it  were  due  to  the  later  presence  among  them  of  the 
many  Pueblos  who  had  joined  them  in  consequence  of  the  restora 
tion  of  Spanish  rule  in  the  last  decade  of  the  Seventeenth  Century. 
The  Pueblos,  as  we  shall  presently  see,  had  long  been  familiar  with 
the  art,  but  up  to  that  time  the  Navajos  had  known  nothing  of 
spinning  and  weaving. 


ANOTHER    STEP 


FIGURE    15 — "At  San   Ildelfonzo 
church  in   New  Mexico" 


he  built  the  first 


THE  Spanish  writers  who 
dealt  with  early  events  in 
New  Mexico  transmitted 
to  us  many  misleading 
statements ;  but  among 
their  more  accurate  narra 
tives,  and  the  more  inter 
esting  in  connection  with 
the  present  subject,  are 
those  relating  to  the  intro 
duction  of  sheep  and  of 
the  weaving  of  woolen 
cloth,  in  that  region. 

Alvar  Nunez  Cabeza  de  Vaca  was  the  first  European  to  enter 
New  Mexico.  He  was  the  treasurer  of  the  fleet  of  Narvaez  who  had 
been  commissioned  by  the  King  of  Spain  to  undertake  an  expedition 
of  conquest  to  the  mainland  of  Florida.  Misfortune  beset  the  under 
taking,  and  a  part  of  the  company,  which  had  landed  and  which  in 
cluded  de  Vaca,  having  lost  communication  with  the  vessels,  built 
boats  in  which  to  leave  Florida.  These  were  scattered  by  a  storm, 
and  late  in  1528  de  Vaca  and  his  boat-crew  were  cast  ashore  on  the 
coast  of  Texas  where  all  were  soon  made  prisoners  by  Indians. 
After  six  years  of  captivity  de  Vaca  and  three  of  his  men  escaped, 
and  set  out  to  make  their  way  overland  to  their  countrymen  in 
Mexico;  Cortez  having  invaded  that  country  in  1519.  Their  course 
was  northwest,  and  they  evidently  proceeded  as  far  in  that  direction 
as  central  New  Mexico,  whence  they  made  their  way  southward 
and  reached  the  City  of  Mexico  in  1536. 


84  THE   NAVAJO  AND   HIS   BLANKET. 

In  his  "Relacion"  of  his  travels,  de  Vaca  tells  of  having-  found 
linen  and  woolen  cloth  in  use  by  the  natives,  and  at  one  place  on 
his  journey  fine  cotton  shawls;  all  of  native  production. 

Friar  Marcos  in  his  account  of  his  expedition  into  the  Pueblo 
country  in  1538  mentions  the  natives  as  being  dressed  in  cotton 
cloth ;  and  says  the  men  of  Cibola  wore  long  cotton  gowns  reaching 
to  their  feet.  He  further  states  that  he  encountered  later  great 
numbers  of  men  and  women  wearing  cotton  clothing,  and  that  the 
people  told  them  that  others,  living  farther  north,  were  dressed 
in  woolen  cloth ;  and  also  that  they  described  a  little  animal  which 
furnish  the  material  of  which  the  woolen  cloth  was  made, 
Another  report  came  to  him  of  the  people  of  Totonteac  who  dressed 
in  woolen  clothing  like  that  worn  by  the  Spaniards. 

Coronado's  expedition  of  1540  traversed  the  country  that  had 
been  visited  by  Marcos,  and  also  went  further  north,  into  the  "land 
of  gold"  of  which  Marcos  had  said  he  had  heard ;  and  in  the  account 
of  this  undertaking  the  natives  are  described  as  being  dressed  in 
cotton  clothing. 

Reports  of  Espejo's  expedition  of  1582  tell  of  native  people 
encountered  in  the  vicinity  of  the  present  city  of  Albuquerque,  New 
Mexico,  who  dressed  in  striped  cotton  cloth ;  and  say  that  Espejo 
received  from  one  of  their  chiefs  a  present  of  4,000  bolls  of  cotton, 
of  which  product  the  people  are  represented  as  growing  large 
quantities. 

The  chief  purpose  of  Onate's  expedition  was  to  colonize  the 
territory  now  known  as  New  Mexico.  At  San  Ildelfonzo,  an 
Indian  village  about  ten  miles  south  of  Espanola,  he  built  the  first 
church  and  soon  after  founded  a  convent  at  the  same  place.  Upon 
the  return  of  the  Spaniards  in  1692,  the  old  village  was  destroyed, 
and  the  people  then  moved  just  across  the  Rio  Grande  and  estab 
lished  the  village  at  its  present  location.  The  church  built  in  the 
new  village  later  is  reputed  to  be  a  copy  of  the  older  one,  and  is 
shown  in  Figure  15. 


ANOTHER    STEP.  85 

The  Pueblo  Indian  villages,  mentioned  in  the  preceding  chap 
ter,  may  not  all  now  occupy  their  original  sites,  and  they  were 
known  under  entirely  different  names.  The  Spaniards  gave  them 
new  names  when  they  first  occupied  that  region,  and  they  are 
known  to  us  only  by  the  Spanish  names.  A  majority  of  the  villages 
are,  however,  located  just  as  found  by  the  invaders,  and  many  of 
the  buildings  are  known  of  record  to  be  more  than  300  years  old, 
and  it  is  not  improbable  that  some  of  them  have  been  in  existence 
for  at  least  500  years.  The  walls  are  entirely  of  adobe,  and  the 
buildings  are  roofed  with  pine  and  cedar  timbers  covered  with  the 
same  material  as  that  of  the  walls.  Comparing  the  present  good 
condition  of  these  mud  buildings  with  the  now  dilapidated  stone 
structures  of  the  Cliff  Dwellers,  we  have  further  evidence  of  the 
great  age  of  the  latter.  In  Onate's  time  the  people  living  in  this 
village  were  engaged  in  growing  cotton  and  weaving  cotton  cloth. 

Other  Spanish  adventurers  tell  of  trading  with  the  Pueblo 
Indians  for  sufficient  cotton  and  woolen  cloth  to  replace  the  worn 
out  clothing  of  their  soldiers. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  cotton  flourished  in  New  Mexico  at  the 
time  mentioned.  Recent  experiments  in  the  Territory  demonstrated 
that  it  can  now  be  grown  there,  and  probably  with  profit.  The 
weaving  of  cotton  cloth  by  the  Pueblos  certainly  was  practiced  long 
before  the  Spanish  invasion,  and  as  they  had  had  no  communication 
with  any  Europeans  prior  to  that  time,  their  art,  unless  inherited, 
must  have  had  an  independent  origin  and  development  among  them. 

The  fact  that  cotton  cloth  of  good  weave  and  texture  had  been 
found  among  the  older  relics  of  the  cliff  people,  throws  the  practice 
of  the  weaving  art  among  races  in,  or  that  have  been  in,  our  south 
west,  far  back  into  a  very  remote  period.  Accepting  as  possible, 
or  even  probable,  the  proposition  that  the  Cliff  Dwellers  were  the 
far-removed  ancestors  of  the  Pueblos,  it  would  seem  that  the  latter 
had  inherited  their  knowledge  of  weaving,  and  had  been  weavers 
from  an  unknown  time  in  the  past.  An  especially  fine  specimen  of 


THE   NAVAJO  AND   HIS   BLANKET. 

the  Cliff  Dwellers'  weaving  may  be  seen  in  the  American  Museum 
of  Natural  History  in  New  York.  This  very  interesting-  pre-his- 
toric  textile  fabric  is  a  cotton  blanket,  that  was  originally  about 
three  by  five  feet  in  size.  It  was  woven  in  colors,  and  has  designs 
similar  to  those  on  pottery  found  in  the  cliff  dwellings;  the  designs 
bearing  some  resemblance  to  those  now  used  by  the  Xavajos,  but 
which  they  derived  from  the  Pueblos.  In  color  and  general  appear 
ance  this  ancient  cotton  blanket  also  presents  some  resemblance 
to  Navajo  work,  but  nothing  very  definite. 

I  have  some  specimens  of  the  Cliff  Dwellers'  weaving  that  have 
no  designs  and  are  without  colors,  made  of  a  mixture  of  cotton 
and  yucca  fibre.  Cotton  and  yucca  yarn  and  rope  have  also  been 
found  along  with  the  articles  above  mentioned,  buried  in  the  sand 
in  burial  trenches,  and  in  the  buildings,  sometimes  deep  down  under 
the  debris  now  forming  the  floors. 

In  my  collection  of  Cliff  Dwellers'  sandals,  which  includes  both 
the  plaited  and  woven  forms,  six  different  methods  of  making  them 
are  to  be  seen.  Most  of  them  are  rough  plaiting — in  many  instances 
the  different  forms  of  basket  weaving  being  illustrated.  A  few, 
however,  show  evidence  of  great  skill.  The  one  illustrated  in 
Figure  5  is  a  rare  and  interesting  member  of  the  collection,  one  of 
the  pair  of  engraving  showing  the  top,  the  other  the  bottom  of  the 
sandal.  In  this  sandal  appear  designs  in  colors  which  are  almost 
in  form  with  those  found  in  some  old  Pueblo  weaves  and  also  similar 
to  figures  in  later  work  of  the  Navajos.  The  designs  show  plainly 
on  the  upper  side  of  the  sandal.  The  lower  side  is  remarkable  in 
the  fact  of  having  delicate  raised  zig-zag  lines  in  the  perfect  pattern 
of  the  Navajo  lightning  emblem.  The  weaving  is  very  skillfully 
done,  and  would  be  a  credit  to  an  artisan  of  the  present.  The  warp 
is  threads  of  yucca — the  woof  evidently  cotton,  or  some  plant  fibre 
much  finer  and  softer  than  the  yucca. 

That  the  early  Spanish  adventurers  found,  as  they  said,  no 
raw  wool  in  the  Pueblo  country,  is  no  doubt  true.  No  wool-bearing 


FLATF,    I V  —  A    curious  and   rare   old   blanket   of"  sacred   significance, 
\\o\rn   about    I  Sac. 


ANOTHER    STEP.  87 

sheep  existed  in  North  America  until  introduced  by  the  Europeans ; 
Cortez  having  brought  the  first  sheep  soon  after  the  conquest  of 
Mexico.  The  earliest  Spanish  colonists  in  New  Mexico  had  taken 
cattle,  horses,  sheep  and  swine  with  them  from  Old  Mexico  and, 
as  the  climate  was  mild  and  the  pasturage  fair,  the  sheep  increased 
rapidly  and  became  a  great  source  of  wealth. 

The  Pueblos  appear  to  have  soon  discarded  the  spinning  of 
cotton  for  the  easier  spinning  of  wool,  making  many  coarse  woolen 
fabrics  without  any  color,  excepting  the  natural  black  and  white 
of  the  wool  and  such  shades  as  they  could  produce  by  a  mixture 
of  the  two.  At  this  time  the  Navajos  had  not  become  spinners 
and  weavers.  They  made  no  fabrics  of  any  kind  excepting  a  rough 
plaiting  of  the  leaves  and  fibre  of  the  yucca  and  other  plants.  As 
they  became  possessed  of  sheep  and  learned  spinning  and  weaving 
from  Pueblos  who  had  joined  them,  as  already  related,  the  Pueblos 
who  had  remained  in  their  old  homes  turned  their  attention  to  the 
making  of  pottery  as  an  art,  and  to  herding  cattle  and  tilling  the 
soil  as  means  of  subsistence.  Therefore  the  art  of  weaving  declined 
among  the  Pueblos  and,  in  the  same  ratio,  was  taken  up  by  the 
Navajos.  But  some  of  the  Pueblo  women  are  still  weavers,  and 
the  diagonal  weaves  of  the  Hopis  are  superior  to  any  work  done  by 
the  Navajos  so  far  as  texture  is  concerned. 

The  Hopi  Pueblos  use  but  few  colors;  and  such  blankets  as 
they  weave  are  of  serape  size,  and  ornamented  with  stripes  only,  the 
colors  being  blue,  white  and  black,  with  sometimes  a  little  red. 
The  yarn  is  coarsely  spun  and  the  weaving  loosely  done.  Many 
blankets  that  are  shown  as  of  Zuni  or  Hopi  weave  are  made  by 
the  Navajos,  being  woven  to  conform  to  the  fancy  of  the  Pueblos. 
The  Hopi  women  make  a  good  black  diagonal  cloth  used  by  them 
for  dresses,  and  which  is  often  beautifully  embroidered  in  patterns 
that  might  have  come  from  Persia.  They  also  weave  and  embroider 
the  kilts  and  sashes  worn  in  the  ceremony  of  the  snake  dance,  and 


88  THE   NAVAJO  AND   HIS   BLANKET. 

which  are  made  of  white  yarn  and  embroidered  in  black,  red  and 
green. 

With  the  exception  of  the  two  families,  the  Zuni  and  Hopi, 
none  of  the  Pueblos  now  do  any  weaving  worth  mentioning.  Prob 
ably,  if  the  Pueblo  Indians  were  shepherds,  and  were  obliged  to 
seek  the  most  profitable  disposition  of  their  wool,  they  would  com 
pete  with  the  Navajos  in  blanket-weaving.  But  as  they  lack  the 
raw  material,  and  are  not  much  inclined  to  industry,  it  is  quite 
likely  that  when  the  Navajo  squaw  folds  her  loom,  which  she  will 
do  before  many  years  shall  have  passed,  blanket-weaving  among 
the  Indians  of  our  country  will  be  at  an  end. 

It  is  true  that  no  form  of  primitive  loom  such  as  the  Navajos 
now  use  is  found  among  the  Pueblo  Indians,  excepting  with  the 
Hopis  and  Zunis.  When  conditions  influenced  the  other  Pueblo 
tribes  to  stop  spinning  and  weaving,  the  distaff  and  loom  soon 
disappeared,  for  the  indolent  Pueblo  Indian  would  not  care  to  pre 
serve  anything  he  did  not  need,  especially  if  it  would  make  firewood. 
That  all  of  them  were  weavers  from  an  early  period,  there  is  no 
room  for  doubt,  for  the  stories  of  the  Spanish  pioneers  in  that 
country  agree  in  testifying  that  these  people  were  found  well  sup 
plied  with  woven  cotton  fabrics. 

But  the  tales  about  woolen  cloth  being  in  use  by  the  Pueblos 
at  that  time  were  evidently  due  to  lack  of  care  in  ascertaining  and 
recording  facts.  It  is,  however,  possible  that  the  llama  or  some 
similar  animal  capable  of  affording  material  for  a  fabric  resembling 
one  of  wool,  flourished  in  New  Mexico  in  early  times,  and  that  it 
was  cloth  made  of  such  material  that  the  Spaniards  supposed  to 
be  made  of  wool.  But  as  there  is  neither  knowledge  nor  tradition 
of  the  natives  ever  having  had  such  animals,  it  is  more  probable 
that  the  woolly  hair  of  the  buffalo  which  was  then  common  in  that 
country,  or  the  fur  of  the  rabbit  which  may  have  been  the  "little 
animal"  mentioned  by  Marcos,  was  used  to  make  such  cloth. 

The  hair  of  animals,  and  the  feathers  of  birds,  were  woven 


ANOTHER    STEP.  89 

into  the  meshes  of  cotton  fabrics  found  in  the  cliff  ruins,  but  no 
threads  of  wool.  Therefore  it  would  seem  that  if  the  Pueblo 
Indians  spun  the  hair  or  fur  of  animals,  at  all,  it  was  an  industry 
handed  down  by  the  pre-historic  people. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  from  the  various  relics  found,  and  from 
accounts  by  the  Spaniards,  that  some  of  the  early  native  people  of 
our  southwest  did  not  depend  upon  the  skins  of  wild  animals  for 
clothing,  but  were  spinners  and  weavers  of  such  material  at  hand 
as  could  be  worked  into  textile  forms,  no  matter  how  rough  or 
crude. 


THE    BLANKET 


FIGURE    16 —        ~x~   "there  was  then,   as  now,   a   Navajo 
flock  in  every  valley" 


THE  Pueblo  weaving  was, 
as  we  have  seen,  the 
foundation  on  which  the 
Navajos  have  built  up  an 
industry  which  has,  as  a 
barbaric  art,  assumed  a 
position  of  considerable 
commercial  importance. 
In  spite  of  this  fact,  which 
has  brought  them  into 
rather  close  contact  with 
white  men  in  disposing  of 

their  products,  the  native  characteristics  of  these  people  other 
than  their  warlike  traits  have  been  less  affected  by  associ 
ation  with  civilization  than  the  large  majority  of  North  Amer 
ican  Indians;  and  to  this  we  may  ascribe  the  barbaric  beauty 
of  their  woven  patterns  and  the  harmony  of  bright  colors  worked 
into  them.  As  soon  as  they  are  influenced  by  the  white  man's  taste 
to  the  extent  of  changing  their  patterns  and  colors,  the  beauty  of 
the  Navajo  blanket  will  be  doomed.  Let  us  hope  that  it  will  be  a 
long  time  before  such  influences  become  apparent  in  Navajo 
weaving. 

It  is  frequently  said  that  many  of  the  so-called  Navajo  blankets 
are  now  made  in  eastern  factories,  but  this  is  not  true  to  any  great 
extent.  Some  garish  things  in  attempts  at  Navajo  designs  are 
so  made,  but  the  likeness  is  too  poor  to  be  called  even  an  imitation; 
and  no  dealer  with  the  slightest  sense  of  honor  would  offer  one 


02  THE   NAVAJO  AND   HIS   BLANKET. 

of  the  horrid  things  as  a  Navajo  blanket.  Tourists  have  only 
themselves  to  blame  if  they  are  sometimes  thus  deceived. 

The  Navajos  often  prefer  to  wear  blankets  made  in  the  east, 
for  two  reasons:  one  is  that  they  are  lighter;  and  the  other,  that 
they  can  sell  a  good  blanket  of  their  own  make  for  a  sum  sufficient 
to  purchase  a  "Mackinaw."  Not  long  ago  a  lady  visitor  saw  one 
of  these  Mackinaw  blankets  on  the  back  of  a  Navajo  buck  at 
Gallup,  N.  M.  She  immediately  began  negotiations,  and  finally 
got  the  blanket  for  about  three  times  what  is  cost  "poor  Lo,"  and 
went  away  rejoicing,  believing  she  had  a  genuine  Navajo  blanket. 
Why?  because  she  had  bought  it  from  a  Navajo  Indian!  Inci 
dents  of  this  kind  having  been  repeated  frequently  have,  no  doubt, 
given  rise  to  the  story  and  belief  that  a  large  proportion  of  what 
are  said  to  be  Navajo  blankets  are  not  made  by  the  Navajos,  but 
are  the  products  of  eastern  looms.  Nothing,  however,  can  be 
further  from  the  truth.  A  visit  to  the  establishments  of  all  the 
Indian  traders  in  or  about  the  Navajo  nation,  or  to  those  in  any  of 
the  cities  of  the  east  or  west  in  which  Navajo  blankets  are  offered 
for  sale,  will  fail  to  find  a  single  blanket  represented  as  of  Navajo 
origin  that  was  not  made  by  the  Navajos  themselves. 

The  following  letter  from  a  prominent  manufacturer  of 
woolen  blankets  explains  the  situation  to  date,  and  seems  to  settle 
beyond  question  that  no  good  imitation  will  soon  be  made : 

"PENDLETON  WOOLEN  MILLS. 
"Fleece  Wool  Blankets,  Indian  Robes  and  Shawls. 

"PENDLETON,  OREGON,  June  23,  1902. 

"DEAR  SIR — We  have  your  letter  of  the  I7th  and  also  the 
sample  of  the  Navajo.  We  note  what  you  say  about  blanket  people 
saying  this  has  never  been  successfully  imitated.  It  is  for  a  good 
reason.  It  is  impossible  with  any  machine  yet  made  to  get  this 
effect.  On  our  looms  there  are  but  two  shuttle  boxes  on  a  side. 
Running  a  different  shuttle  in  each  box  only  allows  for  four  colors 


PLATE  V — A   modern  rug-blanket,   made  in    1891, 


THE  BLANKET.  93 

at  a  time.  In  this  robe  a  certain  color  appears  and  then  is  cut  out. 
On  a  machine  when  a  color  once  starts  across  the  beam,  it  must  be 
carried  clear  to  the  other  side,  either  on  one  side  or  the  other.  If 
you  lose  it  from  the  top,  it  must  appear  somewhere  on  the  bottom. 
It  is  necessary  for  it  to  go  clear  across  to  be  able  to  return.  In 
weaving  by  hand,  one  can  simply  take  the  shuttle  out  any  place 
desired  and  lay  it  aside  until  wanted  again,  covering  the  end  be 
tween  the  filling  threads  and  the  warp. 

"We  can  get  this  diamond  pattern,  however,  if  you  think  it 
would  do,  but  cannot  get  the  effect  nor  the  weave  as  it  appears  in 
this  robe.  The  Racine  people  are  making  a  shawl  something  after 
this  pattern,  but  can  only  use  a  limited  number  of  colors,  for  the 
reasons  explained  above. 

"We  could  do  this.  We  could  get  something  like  this  pattern 
and  then  work  with  two  colors  for  a  certain  width,  and  then  change 
to  two  others,  giving  a  striped  effect.  For  instance,  we  could  work 
with  black  and  yellow,  the  diamond  or  pattern  appearing  in  yellow 
and  the  background  in  black,  and  then  change  to  green  and  red,  for 
a  certain  width,  and  so  on.  This,  however,  would  not  produce  the 
effect  you  are  after. 

"On  this  kind  of  a  proposition  we  can  quickly  tell  you  we 
cannot  do  anything  except  go  ahead  and  try  to  get  up  something 
that  is  impossible.  If  you  think  a  robe  something  like  I  have 
described  would  sell,  let  me  know  and  we  can  get  out  some,  but  they 
will  be  far,  far  from  the  Navajo  effect. 
"Yours  very  truly, 

"PENDLETON  WOOLEN  MILLS." 

I  have  traveled  extensively  throughout  our  southwestern  coun 
try,  and  have  examined  the  stocks  of  nearly  every  Indian  trader 
and  dealer  in  Navajo  fabrics;  and  in  no  instance  has  a  spurious 
blanket  or  rug  been  offered  me  as  of  Navajo  make.  I  have  not 
always  agreed  with  the  dealers'  statements  regarding  the  age,  com- 


94  THE   NAVAJO  AND   HIS   BLANKET. 

position  or  coloring  of  their  blankets,  but  I  am,  however,  pretty 
welly  satisfied  that  in  the  main  they  are  sincere  in  their  representa 
tions,  and  place  their  goods  before  their  customers  with  the  best 
knowledge  they  possess.  Some  of  them  have  been  so  long  in  the 
business  that  they  are  authorities  upon  the  subject. 

To  know  very  much  about  the  Navajo  blanket  in  general  re 
quires  about  the  same  kind  of  experience  that  a  diamond  dealer 
goes  through  before  he  is  able  to  tell  a  genuine  stone  at  a  glance. 
Indeed,  the  knowledge  comes  only  through  such  experience,  and  is 
usually  attended  by  more  or  less  expense;  though  it  gives  much 
pleasure,  even  if  you  do  have  to  pay  for  it. 

To  see  your  collection  of  blankets  grow,  knowing  that  each 
addition  was  made  with  a  little  better  taste  or  skill  than  the  preced 
ing  one,  is  a  genuine  delight. 

The  term  "blanket"  is  used  to  describe  everything  of  Navajo 
weave,  chiefly  for  the  reason  that  in  the  beginning,  and  for  many 
years  thereafter,  the  Navajo  fabrics  were  made  only  in  such  sizes 
as  could  be  used  for  a  scrape,  or  as  a  covering  while  sleeping.  As 
the  demand  for  them  increased,  smaller,  or  rug  sizes,  were  made; 
and  now,  so  far  as  relates  to  these  two  kinds,  the  latter  are  pro 
duced  in  much  greater  numbers,  and  are  used  almost  entirely  for 
the  purposes  of  rugs.  It  would  seem  proper,  therefore,  to  call  the 
smaller  sizes  "rugs" ;  but  as  the  term  "blanket"  appears  to  be  fas 
tened  upon  them  by  common  consent,  it  is  probably  better  and 
perhaps  more  convenient  to  use  "blanket"  as  a  general  term  for 
all  the  Navajo  products,  rather  than  to  classify  them  under  dis 
tinctive  names. 

The  earliest  reference  to  Navajo  blankets,  so  far  as  I  have 
been  able  to  learn,  written  by  any  of  our  own  people,  is  in  Bur- 
dett's  "Life  of  Kit  Carson."  In  dealing  with  some  events  of  the 
year  1840,  he  says : 

"Carson  now  organized  a  party  of  seven,  and  proceeded  to  a 
trading  post  called  Brown's  Hole,  where  he  joined  a  company  of 


THE  BLANKET.  95 

traders  to  go  to  the  Navajoe  Indians.  He  found  this  tribe  more 
assimilated  to  the  white  man  than  any  Indians  he  had  yet  seen, 
having  many  fine  horses  and  large  flocks  of  sheep  and  cattle.  They 
also  possessed  the  art  of  weaving,  and  their  blankets  were  in  great 
demand  through  Mexico,  bringing  high  prices,  on  account  of  their 
great  beauty,  being  woven  in  flowers  with  much  taste.  They  were 
evidently  a  remnant  of  the  Aztec  race." 

In  his  "Notes  of  a  Military  Reconnoissance,"  Major  Emory, 
referring  to  his  visit  to  Santo  Domingo,  New  Mexico,  in  Septem 
ber,  1846,  says : 

"We  were  shown  into  his  reverence's  parlor,  tapestried  with 
curtains  stamped  with  the  likenesses  of  the  Presidents  of  the 
United  States  up  to  this  time.  The  cushions  were  of  spotless  damask 
and  the  couch  covered  with  a  white  Navajo  blanket  worked  in 
richly  colored  flowers." 

It  is  likely  that  the  "flowers"  referred  to  by  these  writers  had 
been  embroidered  on  a  white  Navajo  blanket  by  Mexican  women. 

In  November,  1846,  Emory  encountered  some  Indians  whom 
he  thought  were  "Pimos  Apaches,"  but  as  they  were  in  a  district 
then  included  in  the  Navajo  country,  and  were  engaged  in  spinning 
and  weaving,  probably  they  were  Navajos.  Of  their  methods  of 
spinning  and  of  their  loom  he  says : 

"A  woman  was  seated  on  the  ground  under  the  shade  of  a  ^ 
cottonwood.  Her  left  leg  was  tucked  under  her  and  her  foot 
turned  sole  upward;  between  her  big  toe  and  the  next,  was  a 
spindle  about  eighteen  inches  long,  with  a  single  fly  of  four  or  six 
inches.  Ever  and  anon  she  gave  it  a  twist  in  a  dexterous  manner, 
and  at  its  end  was  drawn  a  coarse  cotton  thread.  This  was  their 
spinning  jenny.  Led  on  by  this  primitive  display,  I  asked  for  their 
loom  by  pointing  to  the  thread  and  then  to  the  blanket  girded  about 
the  woman's  loins.  A  fellow  stretched  in  the  dust,  sunning  him 
self,  rose  leisurely  and  untied  a  bundle  which  I  had  supposed  to  be 
a  bow  and  arrow.  This  little  package,  with  four  stakes  in  the 


96  THE   NAVAJO  AND    HIS   BLANKET. 

ground,  was  the  loom.  He  stretched  his  cloth  and  commenced  the 
process  of  weaving." 

It  is  almost  certain  that  Emory  was  mistaken  in  saying  that 
the  material  being  spun  was  cotton.  As  we  have  no  record  that 
the  Navajos  ever  grew  cotton,  it  is  more  than  probable  that  these 
people  were  using  wool,  for  there  was  then,  as  now,  a  Navajo  flock 
in  every  valley.  But  this  does  not  detract  from  the  interest  attached 
to  this  early  observation  of  Navajo  spinning  and  weaving.  /x 

Few,  if  any,  who  read  this  little  volume  will  care  to  engage 
in  weaving  blankets  as  the  Navajo  women  make  them.  But  if  one 
desires  to  engage  in  the  work,  an  educational  sojourn  among  the 
Navajos  is  necessary,  and  therefore  I  shall  make  no  attempt  to  de 
scribe  the  process  in  detail,  such  as  would  enable  a  beginner  to  set 
up  in  the  business.  Many  months  of  patient  study  and  practice 
would  be  required  before  the  first  and  simplest  step,  that  of  spin 
ning,  could  be  mastered;  and  then  would  come  the  coloring,  and 
the  slow,  tedious  work  of  weaving.  I  refer  now  only  to  the  blan 
kets  made  from  the  wool  of  the  native  sheep,  which  is  sheared, 
spun,  colored  and  woven  by  the  Navajo  women.  Simple  as  it  may 
seem  at  first  consideration,  the  process  as  a  whole  is  really  intricate 
and  puzzling;  and  if  we  measure  successful  results,  only,  we  can 
hardly  realize  how  much  toil,  physical  suffering,  and  patient,  pains 
taking  work  is  involved  in  producing  the  thousands  of  these  blankets 
that  are  being  made  annually. 

The  sheep  are  not  washed  before  shearing,  as  is  the  practice 
with  white  people,  and  so  there  is  no  sheep-washing  holiday  among 
the  Navajos.  In  late  years  they  have  used  the  white  man's  sheep- 
shears,  obtained  from  the  traders,  to  remove  the  fleece;  but  before 
these  were  procured,  they  pulled  the  wool  from  the  sheep,  or,  by 
using  a  dull  knife,  party  cut  and  partly  pulled  the  wool  away.  The 
fleece  is  first  tossed  and  shaken  to  remove  the  sand,  then  thrown 
over  a  rope  or  bush,  and  the  burrs  and  other  foreign  material  care- 


THE  BLANKET.  97 

fully  picked  out.  The  next  process  is  washing,  which  is  thoroughly 
done,  the  wool  coming  out  clean  and  white. 

At  this  juncture  it  may  be  said  that  that  abnormal  and  much 
maligned  creature,  the  "black  sheep,"  is  common  in  Navajo  flocks 
and  is  looked  upon  with  favor.  Its  wool  is  usually  of  a  rusty  black, 
but  from  some  it  is  of  a  glossy,  jet  black;  and  this  is  highly  valued 
on  account  of  the  saving  of  the  labor  of  dyeing,  and  for  its  positive 
and  enduring  color. 

When  the  wool  is  thoroughly  washed  it  is  spread  upon  moun 
tain  sage  or  greasewood  shrubs  to  dry,  and  the  next  process  is  to 
prepare  it  for  the  cards.  For  a  long  time  the  Navajos  have  been 
able  to  procure  from  the  traders  the  old-fashioned  wire-toothed 
cards,  such  as  were  used  by  our  grandmothers  before  the  invention 
of  the  carding  machine,  and  by  which  the  wool  was  carded  into  rolls 
for  spinning.  A  small  handful  of  wool  is  made  into  an  oblong  form 
and  then  placed  between  the  cards  and  rolled  back  and  forth  until  a 
long,  loose  roll  of  wool  is  the  result. 

The  manner  of  using  the  cards  is  shown  in  Figure  17,  which 
is  from  one  of  Professor  George  H.  Pepper's  photographs,  procured 
for  the  American  Museum  of  Natural  History  by  the  Hyde  explor 
ing  expedition. 

The  Navajos  have  no  spinning  wheels,  though  they  are  abund 
antly  able  to  purchase  them;  and  therefore  their  spinning  is  a  slow 
process.  For  this  part  of  their  work  they  refuse  all  innovations, 
preferring  to  adhere  to  the  methods  that  have  come  down  to  them 
through  200  years.  Spinning  the  yarn  is  done  with  a  simple  dis 
taff,  which  is  a  slender  rod,  about  thirty  inches  in  length  and  five- 
eighths  of  an  inch  in  diameter,  tapered  to  a  spindle  point  at  each 
end.  It  is  usually  made  of  a  branch  of  the  pinon,  a  dwarfish  tree 
growing  in  the  southern  part  of  the  Rocky  Mountain  region,  the 
wood  of  which,  when  well  seasoned,  is  as  hard  as  oak  and  takes  a 
smooth  finish.  A  circular  piece  of  wood,  one  inch  in  thickness  and 
four  inches  in  diameter,  with  a  hole  in  the  center,  is  slipped  upon 


98  THE   NAVAJO  AND   HIS   BLANKET. 

the  rod  and  fastened  about  twenty  inches  from  the  spindle  end 
proper.  This  is  all  there  is  to  the  Navajo  spinning  appliance  with 
which  so  much  is  accomplished;  but  by  long  practice  they  become 
very  skillful  in  twirling  it  and  drawing  out  the  thread  at  the  same 
time.  When  the  thread  is  drawn  out  a  sufficient  length,  the  motion 
is  reversed  and  the  thread  wound  upon  the  spindle,  just  as  our 
grandmothers  used  to  reverse  the  wheel  for  the  same  purpose. 
The  manner  of  spinning,  and  the  results  of  the  first  process,  are 
shown  in  Figure  18,  which  is  also  from  a  photograph  procured 
by  the  Hyde  expedition  for  the  American  Museum  of  Natural 
History. 

The  yarn  produced  by  the  first  spinning  is  too  coarse  and  too 
loosely  twisted  to  be  of  any  use  in  weaving,  and  therefore  it  is 
unwound  from  the  spindle  and  spun  again,  and  will  then  answer 
for  the  coarse  woolly  weave  we  sometimes  see.  But  a  third  spin 
ning  must  be  done  before  the  yarn  is  in  anything  like  fit  condition 
to  work  into  a  fine  blanket;  and  for  extra  fine  blankets,  or  for  warp, 
a  fourth,  and  sometimes  a  fifth,  spinning  is  required.  From  this 
the  reader  may  form  some  idea  of  the  amount  of  work  that  must  be 
done  by  the  Navajo  slave  of  the  blanket.  When  the  yarn  is  finally 
spun  it  is  washed  again,  as  the  Navajos  understand  as  well  as  the 
whites  that  it  will  take  color  and  work  better  if  entirely  free  from 
dirt  and  from  the  natural  grease  of  the  wool. 

In  getting  ready  for  the  work  of  weaving,  the  first  step,  after 
preparing  the  yarn,  is  to  construct  the  warp  frame.  This  is  made 
a  little  larger  than  the  blanket  to  be  woven,  and  is  of  slender  sticks 
lashed  together  at  the  corners.  It  is  laid  upon  the  ground,  and 
the  warp  is  wound  upon  it  from  top  to  bottom,  the  threads  crossing 
in  the  center;  and  it  is  then  ready  to  set  in  the  frame.  For  this 
two  posts  are  planted  upright  in  the  ground,  and  cross-beams  are 
lashed  to  them  near  the  top  and  the  bottom.  At  the  top  a  mov- 
abel  pole  is  held  horizontally  to  the  upper  frame  timber  by  a  rope 
arranged  spirally,  so  that  by  tightening  or  loosening  the  rope,  the 


THE  BLANKET.  101 

pole  can  be  readily  raised  or  lowered.  The  upper  bar  of  the  warp 
frame  is  fastened  to  this  pole  by  loops  of  rope,  and  all  is  arranged 
so  that  in  starting  weaving  the  upper  end  of  the  warp  frame  is 
about  twelve  inches  below  the  top  of  the  main  frame.  The  lower 
end  of  the  warp  frame  is  now  fastened  to  the  lower  bar  of  the 
main  frame,  the  warp  being  thus  drawn  taut.  The  loom  proper  is 
now  complete,  the  warp  is  in  place,  and  everything  is  ready  for  the 
beginning  of  weaving. 

A  stick  wound  with  yarn  takes  the  place  of  what  our  weavers 
call  a  heald.  Twine  is  wound  around  it,  taking  in  every  alternate 
thread  of  warp,  and  when  the  heald  is  drawn  forward  it  brings 
one-half  of  the  warp  threads  with  it,  thus  opening  the  warp  for 
the  more  ready  placing  of  the  woof.  They  use  no  shuttle;  the  yarns 
of  different  colors  being  wound  in  balls,  and  these  are  passed  back 
and  forth  between  the  warp  threads  in  the  same  manner  as  the 
ordinary  shuttle,  excepting  that  they  cannot  be  thrown,  but  must 
be  slowly  worked  along  by  hand.  If  the  reader  will  suspend  a 
blanket  of  moderately  intricate  pattern,  with  the  warp  running  up 
and  down,  and  count  across  it  the  different  colors  and  shades,  and 
the  repetitions  of  each,  the  number  of  the  many  little  balls  of  yarn 
that  were  hanging  on  the  face  of  the  blanket  while  it  was  being 
woven  will  be  known.  The  Navajo  woman  carries  a  color  along ~^ 
until  the  pattern  demands  a  change,  when  the  first  ball  is  dropped, 
after  having  made  a  loop  of  the  yarn  to  prevent  its  unwinding, 
and  the  next  color  is  taken  up.  This  thread  is  drawn  around  the 
thread  of  the  first  color  to  preserve  continuity,  and  thus  the  process 
goes  on,  back  and  forth,  a  single  thread  at  a  time  passed  in  and  out 
through  the  warp,  the  woof  being  laid  loosely  to  prevent  the  weave 
from  drawing  in  at  the  sides.  As  the  work  progresses,  the  yarn 
is  beaten  down  in  the  warp  by  using  a  thin,  hard  stick  as  a  batten, 
and  the  firmness  of  the  weaving  depends  largely  upon  the  use  of 
the  batten ;  the  hard,  almost  waterproof,  specimens  indicating  the 
conscientious  application  of  this  implement.  This  manner  of  weav- 


102  THE   NAVAJO  AND   HIS   BLANKET. 

ing  results  in  a  single-ply  fabric;  the  pattern  being  the  same  on 
both  sides.  Figure  19  is  a  picture  of  a  Navajo  weaver  at  her 
work,  and  was  made  from  a  photograph  by  Charles  Goodman, 
of  Bluff,  Utah. 

Sometimes  the  main  frame  of  the  loom  is  dispensed  with, 
and  the  trunks  of  a  pair  of  standing  small  trees  are  utilized  in  its 
stead.  But  this  is  of  most  primitive  form,  and  lacks  many  of  the 
features  of  an  approved  Navajo  loom,  though  it  serves  to  illus 
trate  the  simplicity  of  construction  that  may  be  made  to  answer 
the  purpose. 

While  weaving,  the  squaw  sits  on  the  ground  and  weaves 
from  the  bottom  upward.  When  the  work  has  progressed  so  far 
that  she  cannot  reach  it  easily,  the  rope  on  the  upper  beam  is  loos 
ened,  as  is  also  the  top  bar  of  the  warp  frame,  permitting  the  lat 
ter  to  slide  down  on  the  frame  sides  to  the  proper  position.  It 
is  now  fastened  again,  the  warp  drawn  taut  and  the  finished  por 
tion  of  the  blanket  sewn  tightly  to  the  lower  beam  of  the  main 
frame. 

The  reader  may  have  often  noticed  the  marks  of  this  sew 
ing,  for  it  is  done  so  tightly,  and  the  blanket  is  held  so  firmly  in 
position  while  being  woven,  that  they  remain  for  years,  and  fre 
quently  until  the  blanket  is  worn  out. 

Weaving  is  carried  on  wherever  the  family  happens  to  be, 
and  in  caring  for  their  sheep  they  are  on  the  move  a  great  deal  of 
the  time,  seldom  remaining  more  than  four  or  five  days  in  a  place. 
When  they  are  moving  there  is  often  seen  on  a  single  horse,  a 
mother  with  two  or  three  children,  a  pack  of  wool  and  yarn,  and 
a  complete  loom.^  This  scene  is  shown  in  the  beautiful  engrav 
ing  used  as  the  frontispiece  to  this  volume,  and  made  from  a 
photograph  by  Mr.  Matteson,  which  he  has  named  "Homeward 
Bound." 

When  they  stop  the  first  thing  to  be  done  is  to  clear  away  a 
place  for  the  loom  and  set  it  up.  Sometimes  in  moving  the  woman 


•  I  I    If  ib. 


PLATE   VI — An  old  specimen  bearing  the   Head   Chiefs  cm 
of  the  period  of  1865. 


THE  BLANKET.  103 

will  forget  the  idea  of  pattern  she  had  had  in  mind  for  an  unfin 
ished  blanket,  and  the  result  is  an  irregular  weave.  In  other  in 
stances  she  may  lose  some  of  her  yarns  on  the  journey,  and  there 
fore  must  finish  the  blanket  as  best  she  can  with  the  colors  she 
has  left.  Such  circumstances  account  for  the  irregularities  we 
find  in  some  really  good  blankets,  especially  among  the  older  j 
ones. 

In  considering  the  colors  used  I  shall  first  refer  to  the  period 
when  many  of  the  dyes  were  made  by  the  Navajos  themselves. 
Their  first  idea  of  high  color  came  from  the  introduction  of 
bayeta,  a  material,  of  which  so  much  is  and  has  been  said  and 
that  is  not  now  obtainable  in  the  original  form.  It  was  entirely 
different  from  the  so-called  "squaw-cloth,"  samples  of  which  are 
often  shown  as  bayeta.  Squaw-cloth  is  a  coarse  woolen  stuff  in 
many  colors,  and  an  attempt  to  ravel  it  and  preserve  the  yarn  in 
anything  like  a  condition  in  which  to  be  retwisted  or  respun,  will 
demonstrate  the  fallacy  of  calling  it  bayeta,  and  of  asserting^  that 
that  material  was  ever  used  in  making  Navajo  blankets. ^_The 
genuine  bayeta  was  entirely  of  wool,  dyed  with  cochineal,  and 
presented  the  various  shades  of  red  natural  to  that  dye. 

Cochineal,  it  is  true,  is  a  product  of  Mexico,  but  it  must  be 
remembered  that  the  Spaniards  had  been  in  Mexico  more  than 
one  hundred  years  before  the  Navajos  ever  possessed  sheep,  and 
even  if  Mexico  was  the  only  country  producing  cochineal  there 
was  plenty  of  opportunity  to  have  introduced  it  into  Europe.  As 
it  is,  however,  also  produced  in  Java  and  in  Algiers,  the  question 
sometimes  raised,  that,  as  cochineal  was  a  product  of  Mexico, 
the  bayeta  brought  from  England  could  not  have  been  dyed  with 
it,  is  set  at  rest. 

Cochineal  produces  both  a  brilliant  scarlet  and  a  crimson, 
according  to  the  manner  of  treatment.  A  fact  of  interest  in  con 
nection  with  this  color  is  that  a  fabric  dyed  with  it  may  be  changed 
to  an  orange  red  by  acids,  and  to  violet  by  alkalis.  This  accounts 


104  THE   NAVAJO  AND   HIS   BLANKET. 

for  some  peculiar  colors  in  old  weaves  which  can  be  accounted  for 
in  no  other  way. 

The  warp  and  woof  strands  of  the  old  bayeta  were  of  equal 
size,  and  so  well  spun  that  when  raveled  they  were  strong  enough 
for  weaving.  In  the  old  blankets  of  fine  texture  we  find  evi 
dence  that  in  many  instances  the  threads  have  been  respun  to  re 
duce  their  size,  and  in  the  case  of  heavier  weave,  the  threads  have 
been  doubled  and  twisted.  This  readily  explains  the  lack  of  uni 
formity  we  find  in  the  weight  of  genuine  old  bayetas. 

Bayeta  was  originally  taken  from  Manchester,  England,  to 
Spain.  From  there  it  was  sent  to  traders  in  New  Spain,  or  Mex 
ico,  and  by  them  bartered  or  sold  to  the  Indian  traders  who  had 
access  to  the  Navajo  country,  where  it  was  at  first  used  only  spar 
ingly.  It  was  expensive,  and  the  labor  required  to  ravel  it,  and  the 
great  care  and  skill  required  to  handle  it  properly,  led  the  Nava- 
jos  to  make  only  narrow  stripes  of  bayeta  in  blankets  of  their 
earlier  weaving. 

Let  us  not  confound  the  true  bayeta  with  the  modern  squaw- 
cloth.  The  latter  is  now  used  by  the  squaws  for  dress  skirts  and 
by  the  bucks  for  leggings,  and  head-dresses  and  much  beadwork 
made  nowadays  have  the  same  cloth  for  a  basis. 

I  have  heard  people  talk  about  blue,  green  and  yellow  bayeta. 
but  I  have  never  seen  a  sample ;  neither  have  I  been  offered  a  blan 
ket  as  bayeta  in  which  these  colors  appear  to  the  exclusion  of  the 
red.  It  is,  however,  a  rule  when  showing  a  blanket  in  which  the 
stripes  or  figures  are  of  bayeta,  to  call  it  a  bayeta  blanket;  the 
fabric  taking  its  name  from  this  precious  bit  of  woof,  no  matter 
how  small.  The  other  colors  may  be  good  or  bad ;  but  that  makes 
no  difference.  The  blanket  is  a  bayeta,  as  generally  accepted. 
The  reader  may  be  quite  sure,  however,  that  if  a  blanket  was  made 
in  the  bayeta  period,  the  painstaking  skill  required  to  treat  the 
material  was  reflected  in  the  spinning,  coloring  and  weaving  of 


THE  BLANKET.  105 

the  fabric;  and  if  worthy  to  be  called  bayeta,  it  is  apt  to  be  a  pretty 
good  blanket  all  through. 

The  accompanying  colored  plates  are  reproductions,  in  de 
sign  and  color,  of  Navajo  blankets  in  my  collection,  which  at  the 
present  time  numbers  about  seventy-five  examples  that  have  been 
carefully  selected  during  the  last  twenty  years. 

Plate  I  shows  one-half  of  a  Navajo  "squaw-dress,"  which 
belongs  to  the  period  between  1840  and  1860.  It  is  a  perfect 
specimen  of  bayeta  and  natural  black  wool,  but  the  only  symbols 
are  those  of  mountains,  in  two  forms.  In  size  it  is  thirty-one  by 
forty-one  inches. 

Plate  II  represents  a  very  old  example  of  Navajo  work  in 
"pink  bayeta,"  native  wool  and  native  dyes.  Its  symbols  are 
those  of  mountains,  as  indicated  by  the  steps  in  the  squares,  and 
of  lightning,  the  latter  appearing  in  almost  perfect  designs.  Color 
and  form  assign  to  this  blanket  a  date  about  the  year  1850.  Its 
size  is  twenty-eight  by  forty-six  inches.  Of  pink  bayeta,  which 
enters  into  the  composition  of  this  blanket,  some  account  is  given 
on  a  succeeding  page. 

It  appears  that  in  the  primitive  period  of  Navajo  weaving 
only  white  wool  was  used  in  making  blankets.  In  some  later 
time  the  idea  of  stripes  was  suggested,  and  the  wool  from  the 
black  sheep  was  used  to  make  narrow  bands  across  the  blanket. 
The  next  change  was  a  mixture  of  white  and  black  wool,  mak 
ing  what  we  call  "sheep's  gray,"  which  is  found  in  very  old  blan 
kets;  and  for  many  years  thereafter  only  white,  black,  and  gray 
appeared  in  the  productions  of  Navajo  looms. 

It  is  quite  safe  to  say  that  nearly  all,  if  not  all,  Navajo  blan 
kets  made  prior  to  the  year  1800  were  without  any  colors,  proper; 
that  only  undyed  wool  was  used.  The  introduction  of  bayeta""' 
about  that  time,  worked  a  change  in  the  whole  blanket  scheme 
of  the  Navajos.  They  began  to  experiment  with  plants  and 
roots ;  and  colors,  proper,  were  found.  Following  the  weave  by 


106  THE   NAVAJO  AND   HIS   BLANKET. 

periods,  as  evidenced  by  age  and  texture,  we  find  that  yellow  was 
the  first  of  their  native  dyes.  A  light  yellow  was  produced  by 
steeping  the  leaves  of  the  peach,  and  a  brighter  and  more  at 
tractive  one  was  made  later  from  the  flower  heads  of  the  Bige- 
lovia  Graveolens,  a  plant  with  great  trusses  of  bright  yellow  flow 
ers,  and  that  grows  profusely  in  the  Navajo  country.  A  darker 
yellow  is  now  made  from  the  root  of  a  plant  called  by  the  New 
Mexicans  "rabbit  wood";  but  I  have  not  been  able  to  find  the 
plant,  and  do  not  know  what  it  is. 

When  the  early  traders  learned  that  the  Navajos  were  seek 
ing  colors,  they  introduced  indigo,  and  probably  the  dye-stuff 
known  as  Brazil  wood.  The  latter  was  originally  a  red  dye-stuff 
brought  from  the  far  east  at  a  very  early  period.  Later  it  was 
found  by  the  Spanish  General  Cabral  in  South  America,  in  the 
year  1500.  The  eastern  product  was  called  Brasil,  Bresil  and  Bra- 
sile,  names  probably  derived  from  the  broken  form  in  which  it  was 
first  introduced.  The  wood  was  found  in  South  America  by  the 
Spaniards,  in  the  territory  now  known  as  Brazil,  and  this  South 
American  state  was  named  by  them  on  that  account. 

Its  natural  color  is  the  mahognay  red,  seen  in  some  very  old 
blankets,  and  which  has  been  attributed  to  native  dyes.  By  mixing 
it  with  iron  a  purple  is  produced,  and  a  good  black  is  made  by 
combining  it  with  acids.  With  these  additions  to  their  list,  fancy 
for  designs  was  stimulated  and  the  idea  of  symbols  began  to  de 
velop,  but  up  to  about  1820  there  had  been  little  attempt  at  symbol 
ism  in  blanket  patterns. 

Having  the  blue  and  yellow,  the  Navajos  learned  to  produce 
a  green  by  combining  the  two,  but  there  is  no  evidence  that  they 
ever  made  either  a  satisfactory  blue  or  green  of  vegetable  dyes 
alone.  Indigo  was  to  be  had  soon  after  they  began  to  seek  for 
colors ;  but  green  was  rarelv  used  in  old  weaves.  A  dull  mahogany 
red  found  in  many  old  blankets  may  be  traced  to  the  introduction 
of  Brazil  wood.  As  black  became  more  popular  on  account  of  its 


THE  BLANKET.  107 

symbolic  importance  they  required  more  and  of  a  deeper  shade 
than  was  produced  by  the  wool  of  their  black  sheep.  This  they 
were  able  to  provide  by  a  dye  made  by  combining  a  decoction  of 
the  leaves  of  the  sumac  with  a  native  yellow  ochre  and  the  gum 
of  the  pinon.  In  the  very  old  weaves  we  find  wHite,  black,  gray, 
blue,  yellow  and  green  only. 

In  collections  of  old  blankets  we  occasionally  find  some  of 
the  bayeta  period  with  stripes  of  rose  or  pink,  which,  for  want  of 
a  better  name,  are  called  "pink  bayetas."  The  term  is  correct  only 
so  far  as  it  describes  a  blanket,  the  woof  or  warp  of  which  has 
been  raveled  from  other  fabrics.  While  such  blankets  were  not 
made  from  the  cochineal-dyed  bayeta,  it  is  likely  that  the  same 
material  was  used  as  in  weaving  bayeta,  and  that  the  weaving 
was  very  similar ;  but  the  dye  was  entirely  different  from  cochineal. 
Close  examination  reveals  the  fact  that  at  one  time  the  color  was 
a  bright  red,  and  that  by  long  exposure  to  the  sun  and  wind  it 
faded  or  toned  down  to  a  rose  or  a  pink  hue.  These  blankets  are 
rare,  and  are  all  in  what  we  call  "old  Navajo"  patterns  or  designs ; 
and  were  made  earlier  than  1850.  The  one  shown  in  Plate  II  is 
a  good  example  of  a  pink  bayeta  fabric. 

The  predominating  features  in  the  pattern  of  Plate  III  are 
termed  by  some  good  judges  the  "Aztec  Club"  design;  the  barred 
lines  being  supposed  to  represent  the  war-clubs  found  in  old  so- 
called  Aztec  tombs.  Another  interpretation  is  that  they  mean  a 
number  of  lodges,  connected  by  ties  of  blood  relationship;  the 
central  figures  in  white  and  black  symbolizing  an  union  of  two 
families,  with  lineage  running  back  many  generations  to  two  en 
tirely  different  tribes. 

This  blanket  is  a  curio.  In  age  it  antedates  the  use  of  com 
mercial  dyes  by  the  Navajos.  The  single  strand  yarn  of  which 
it  is  entirely  composed  shows  it  to  be  of  Navajo  spinning. 

The  white  and  black,  the  natural  colors  of  the  wool ;  the  yel- 


108  THE   NAVAJO  AND   HIS   BLANKET. 

low,  no  doubt  produced  by  a  decoction  of  peach  leaves  and  bark ; 
the  pink,  some  combination  of  vegetable  dyes,  not  common. 

The  size  of  this  specimen  is  thirty-six  by  fifty-four  inches. 

It  must  be  remembered  that  bayeta  was  expensive,  and  that 
it  was  due  to  this  fact  that  so  many  very  old  blankets,  that  have 
this  shade  of  red  in  their  composition,  have  been  preserved.  In 
proportion  to  the  number  of  antiques,  the  percentage  of  bayetas  is 
large.  They  had  cost  more  to  produce,  and  were  therefore  valued 
more  highly  and  better  cared  for. 

There  was  no  good  red  among  the  native  dyes.  If  there  had 
been,  bayeta  would  never  have  been  known  as  an  element  in  a 
Navajo  blanket.  A  reddish  brown  was  made  from  the  bark  and 
roots  of  trees  and  shrubs,  but  no  good  red.  Bayeta  was  undoubt 
edly  the  stimulus  that  led  them  on  to  other  colors,  and  is  without 
question  the  one  thing  more  than  all  others  that  laid  the  founda 
tion  for  the  most  beautiful  aboriginal  fabrics  of  our  country. 

We  have  now  dealt  only  with  the  colors  used  in  old  blankets. 
These  consisted  of  the  imported  bayeta,  indigo,  and  Brazil  wood, 
and  the  black,  yellow,  and  green  native  dyes  produced  by  the 
Navajos.  This  was  in  the  substantial  period,  when  coloring, 
spinning  and  weaving  were  more  conscientiously  done.  The  intro 
duction  of  cheap,  commercial  dyes  is  an  innovation  to  be  deplored, 
as  much  in  the  Navajo  land  as  in  Persia.  Like  the  beautiful  fab 
rics  of  the  Orient,  our  own  barbaric  weaves  have  suffered  by  the 
introduction  of  these  inferior  mineral  dyes.  We  are  glad  to  be 
lieve,  however,  that  the  worst  period  in  this  respect  has  passed, 
as  there  is  a  tendency  on  the  part  of  traders  to  induce  the  Nava 
jos  to  return  to  the  old-time  methods,  and  also  to  insist  that 
when  mineral  dyes  are  used  they  shall  be  only  of  the  best  quali 
ties. 

Many  of  the  innovation  color  effects  from  cheap  commercial 
dyes  are  pleasing,  but  most  of  them  are  untrustworthy,  and  should 
have  no  place  in  a  Navajo  blanket.  The  reds  are  the  most  un- 


THE  BLANKET.  Ill 

reliable;  and  the  purple,  maroon,  dove  color,  and  bright  orange, 
which  are  out  of  place  among  the  colors  that  make  a  Navajo 
blanket  a  thing  of  beauty,  are  also  the  most  disfiguring.  If  one 
is  in  doubt  as  to  the  stability  of  a  color,  the  water  test  will  settle 
the  question.  High  prices  are  paid,  as  a  general  rule,  for  Navajo 
blankets,  and  buyers  are  entitled  to  the  assurance  of  permanent 
colors.  But  the  reforming  influence  must  come  from  the  pur 
chaser,  and  when  he  insists,  the  trader  will  soon  see  to  it  that  the 
Navajos  use  only  fast  colors.  It  is  in  the  interest  of  all,  the  buyer, 
the  dealer,  the  Indian  trader,  and  the  weavers  themselves,  that 
this  be  brought  about  as  soon  as  possible. 

The  art  of  weaving  is  so  old  that  history  can  tell  us  nothing 
of  its  origin.  It  was  known  by  the  inhabitants  of  New  Mexico 
centuries  before  the  coming  of  the  Spaniards,  and  no  doubt  had 
"been  practiced  by  the  Pueblo  Indians  long  before  the  advent  of 
the  Navajos,  who  knew  nothing  of  it  until  many  years  after  they 
had  taken  possession  of  their  present  country.  Their  first  knowl 
edge  of  textile  work  followed  the  introduction  of  sheep,  but  not 
until  after  the  Pueblo's  insurrection,  as  we  have  no  evidence  what 
ever  that  they  ever  made  thread  or  yarn  of  cotton  or  knew  any 
thing  about  it.  Soon  after  that  time  the  deserters  from  the  Pueb 
los  had  become  well  established  among  the  Navajos.  These  peo 
ple  had  taken  with  them  all  the  knowledge  they  possessed  of  spin 
ning  and  weaving,  but  the  Navajos  wrre  slow  to  adopt  the  work, 
and  appear  to  have  made  but  little  progress  in  the  first  quarter  of 
the  Eighteenth  Century.  So  far  as  can  now  be  ascertained,  they 
had  not  become  able  to  produce  a  rough  weaving  sufficient  for 
protection  from  the  inclemency  of  the  winter,  until  about  the 
year  1720. 

Then  there  was  no  sentiment,  no  symbolical  figures, 
no  color,  nor  beauty  either  in  design  or  weave.  The  coarse  fabric 
was  made  only  to  meet  the  demand  for  covering  for  their  bodies. 
The  Navajo  squaw  hacl  not  yet  developed  her  artistic  sense,  and 


112  THE   NAVAJO  AND   HIS   BLANKET. 

it  took  many  long  years  to  accomplish  this.  But  in  the  evolution 
of  the  blanket  from  a  coarse  article  of  necessity  to  the  beauty  of 
barbaric  fancy,  produced  later,  her  whole  nature  was  changed. 
She  had  been  slowly  growing  to  be  a  slave  of  the  blanket,  but  was 
working  out  her  destiny  without  knowing  it.  Gradually  the  spirit 
of  her  work  grew,  with  color  and  patterns  springing  into  being- 
colors  and  patterns  that  even  astonished  her;  and  she  began  to 
weave  her  whole  soul  into  the  meshes  of  her  work.  Thus  weav 
ing  came  to  be,  with  the  Navajos,  a  woman's  art  entirely. 

The  severe  plainness  of  the  rough,  early  fabrics  of  white,  or 
of  white  and  black — things  of  utility  only  and  in  the  natural  colors 
of  the  wool — prompts  us  to  ask  what  influence  was  at  work  in 
the  mind  of  the  aboriginal  woman  that  led  her  up  from  the  level  of 
mere  utility  to  the  higher  plane  of  color  and  pattern.  It  may  be 
that  the  Indian's  love  of  high  color  inspired  the  first  departure, 
and  that  later  on  it  was  stimulated  by  a  natural  artistic  instinct. 
But  she  has  been,  to  a  certain  degree,  an  imitator. 

In  many  instances  the  designs  on  modern  and  ancient  Pueblo 
pottery  have  a  semblance  of  color,  but  the  colors  are  onlv  suffi 
cient  to  show  what  might  be  done  in  blanket  colors.  Possibly  this 
suggestion  helped,  and  step  by  steo  the  idea  grew  and  took  form, 
and  after  a  century  of  loving  labor  the  superlative  aboriginal  prod 
uct — the  Navajo  blanket — was  born  of  a  parentage  of  utility  and 
savage  love  of  things  beautiful.  The  poor  woman  of  the  moun 
tains  and  plains  must  weave  a  blanket  to  sell,  for  she  must  live. 
This  does  not  detract  from  her  artistic  sense,  nor  prevent  her 
weaving  the  sad  story  of  her  life  into  the  meshes  of  her  work. 
No  one  can  read  that  record,  and  it  is  probable  that  she  tells  it  to 
no  one.  She  lets  it  go  out  into  the  world,  hoping,  at  least,  it  will 
fall  into  the  hands  of  some  one  who  will  care  for  it  tenderly,  even 
though  they  do  not  know. 

The  principal  designs  are  emblematic.  However,  the  weav 
ers  do  not  feel  closely  bound  to  these  conventions,  but  follow  their 


PLATE   VII— A   valuable  old  bayeta  blanket, 
made  about    1840. 


THE  BLANKET.  113 

own  fancies  and  conceits  to  the  extent  that  each  fabric  holds  an 
individuality. 

The  Navajo  squaw  is  not  a  highly  sensitive  being.  She  is 
not  romantic  and  not  keenly  alive  to  a  sense  of  beauty,  as  is  mani 
fested  by  her  lack  of  pride  in  her  personal  appearance,  and  the 
untidy  condition  of  her  house.  Forlorn,  unkempt,  a  willing 
drudge  for  her  family,  surrounded  with  nothing  to  stimulate  a 
fancy  for  things  beautiful,  with  not  even  the  incentive  of  ade 
quate  reward  to  encourage  her,  there  is,  in  spite  of  her  environ 
ment,  manifest  in  her  work  a  subtle  sense  of  color  value,  a  cor 
rect  estimate  of  proper  color  combinations,  and  an  artistic  con 
ception  of  design  that  is  wonderful.  Barbaric  it  is,  and  properly 
so;  even  to  the  limit  of  gaudiness;  but  never  lacking  in  perfect 
harmony  of  color. 

The  Navajo  squaw  is  a  child  of  nature.  She  follows  no  pat 
tern.  All  the  figures  are  evolved  as  she  works,  and  as  she  weaves 
the  story  of  her  life.  In  symbolical  figures  she  shows  the  moun 
tains  near  which  she  was  born;  the  river  from  which  the  water 
was  taken  in  which  her  own  and  her  Indian  lover's  hands  were 
washed  in  the  ceremony  of  marriage;  the  trees,  clouds,  rain, 
wind,  whirlwind,  and  the  lightning.  She  portrays  the  tortuous 
path  man  must  travel  to  attain  superiority.  She  knows  the  sym 
bols  that  must  appear  in  some  form  to  adorn  the  blanket  of  a 
chief,  the  robe  of  a  bride,  or  the  mantle  of  the  dead.  The  colors, 
stripes,  squares  and  crosses  and  zig-zag  diamonds  are  not  mean 
ingless  designs.  It  is  to  be  particularly  noted  that  curves  and 
circles  are  tabooed.  Every  design  may  be  reduced  to  straight 
lines.  The  cross  in  some  form  is  a  common  figure. 

This  is  finely  illustrated  in  Plate  IV,  which  represents  a 
curious  as  well  as  a  rare  old  blanket.  This  fabric  is  composed 
entirely  of  bayeta,  native  wool  colored  with  native  dyes,  and  the 
sheep-gray  mixture  of  white  and  black  wool.  The  narrow  stripes 
of  dark  red  indicate  use  of  either  Brazil  wood,  or  of  a  native  dye 


114  THE   NAVAJO  AND   HIS   BLANKET. 

the  formula  of  which  is  now  lost.  The  letter  H  appearing  so 
prominently  is  only  incidental  to  forming  the  numerous  simple 
crosses  of  red.  This  blanket  is  undoubtedly  of  sacred  significance, 
combining  the  creative  elements  of  fire  and  water.  It  was  woven 
about  1845,  and  in  size  is  fifty  by  seventy-two  inches. 

The  "swastika"  or  ansated  cross,  an  evolution  from  the 
"Greek  cross,"  so  long  the  emblem  of  the  Aryan  people,  appears 
on  some  very  old  Navajo  blankets.  But  in  thus  directing  atten 
tion  to  it  I  do  not  wish  to  be  understood  as  implying  that  because 
the  swastika  is  found  on  old  Navajo  blankets  its  presence  is  direct 
evidence  that  the  Navajo  is  remotely  of  Asiatic  origin.  As  the 
swastika  appears  on  pottery  found  in  the  cliff  ruins,  it  is  possible 
that  the  Pueblos  inherited  it  and  transferred  it  to  the  Navajos. 
Therefore  he  who  solves  the  problem  of  the  origin  of  the  Cliff 
Dwellers  may  also  be  able  to  account  for  the  adoption  and  use  of 
the  swastika  by  the  Navajos. 

The  true  cross — with  all  arms  of  equal  length — was  found 
on  vases  and  cotton  fabrics  of  the  Pueblo  Indians  when  the  Catho 
lic  Spaniards  first  visited  New  Mexico.  Whether  or  not  there  be 
any  relation  between  this  and  the  torture  cross  does  not  affect 
the  fact  that  the  native  people  of  our  Southwest  paid,  and  still 
pay,  homage  to  the  former  as  a  symbol  of  protection,  and  also 
when  directly  supplicating  the  Great  Spirit.  Each  of  these  forms 
is  found  on  both  the  old  and  the  new  blankets,  but  the  presence  of 
the  torture  cross  may,  of  course,  be  readily  accounted  for  by  re 
ferring  it  to  the  religious  influences  introduced  by  the  Spaniards. 
A  cross  made  of  very  narrow  lines  in  a  blanket  is  usually  inter 
preted  as  indicating  that  an  enemy  had  recently  crossed  the  trail 
of  the  weaver's  family. 

Each  of  the  various  other  figures  and  patterns  woven  into 
the  Navajo  blankets  has  its  special  significance.  The  diamond 
figure  that  appears  in  many  pieces  of  their  work  distinguishes  a 
page  on  which  their  tribal  history  is  written.  The  wave  pattern, 


THE  BLANKET.  115 

easier  described  as  following  the  lines  of  an  old-fashioned  rail 
fence,  is  one  of  the  old  symbols,  and  indicates  the  importance  of 
water  to  animal  and  plant  life.  Squares  remind  us  of  the  four 
quarters  of  the  globe,  the  four  seasons,  and  the  "four  winds,"  as 
they  call  the  four  points  of  the  compass,  from  which  they  say  the 
winds  blow.  These  are  also  indicated  by  tassels  at  the  corners  of 
the  blankets.  The  creative  spirit  in  which  is  combined  father  and 
mother  is  shown  in  the  colors  red  and  black :  fire,  the  father,  in 
red;  water,  the  creative  mother,  in  black;  and  each  also  refers  to 
the  creation  of  the  world  as  well  as  to  the  origin  of  plant  and  ani 
mal  life.  Black  is  also  shown  as  the  color  of  the  north;  and  blue 
as  the  color  of  the  south.  Again,  red  is  the  male  color,  and  blue 
the  female  color.  A  straight  line  with  shorter  bars  dropping  from 
each  end,  denotes  the  storm  clouds;  and  the  same  figure  inverted 
under  it,  is  a  mist  rising  to  meet  it.  Zig-zag  lines  mean  light 
ning,  and  a  multiplication  of  these  lines  by  intersecting  them  is 
known  as  the  "rattlesnake"  pattern,  the  snake  among  the  Indians 
of  the  southwest  being  closely  related  to  some  form  of  worship. 
Lines  forming  steps  mean  mountains,  and  rows  of  little  squares 
refer  to  Indian  villages.  The  Aztec  club  pattern  was  once  popu 
lar,  being,  as  previously  remarked,  an  effort  to  figure  the  Aztec 
war-club  found  in  some  of  the  old  ruins.  A  border  of  complicated 
lines,  often  seen,  is  the  rough  road  the  Indian  novitiate  must  travel 
before  he  is  competent  to  sit  with  the  warriors  in  medicine  lodge 
or  around  the  council  fire.  Obtuse  angles,  though  rarely  found, 
mean  the  sky. 

Many  of  the  Navajo  blanket  symbols  evidently  originated 
with  Pueblo  Indians,  as  we  find  similar  figures  on  pottery  made 
by  them  before  the  advent  of  the  Navajo  blanket.  This  was  due 
to  the  influence  of  the  Pueblo  Indian  recruits;  although  these 
figures  were  not  produced  in  blankets  until  long  after  the  Navajos 
began  weaving.  The  figures  are  not  exact  copies  from  Pueblo  pot 
tery,  but  carry  out  the  general  ideas.  Moreover,  the  emblems  are 


116  THE   NAVAJO  AND   HIS   BLANKET. 

not  placed  according  to  rule,  but  are  varied  in  position  and  ar 
rangement  to  the  extent  that  no  two  blankets  are  exactly  alike;  a 
fact  that  supports  the  statement  that  the  Navajo  squaw  does  not 
work  from  patterns.  That  she  does  not  is  evident  from  the  sup 
plementing  fact  that  in  working  she  never  has  before  her  another 
blanket  from  which  to  copy. 

Pueblo  Indian  pottery  shows  many  designs  that  the  Navajos 
do  not  reproduce.  Principal  among  these  are  circles  and  scrolls 
by  which  the  Pueblos  indicate  the  wind  and  the  whirlwind.  The 
fret  is  one  of  their  oldest  designs.  The  rectilinear  fret,  while 
found  on  many  blankets,  is  also  found  on  basketry  older  than  the 
blanket  age;  but  made  by  people  far  removed  from  the  Navajos. 
According  to  the  best  information  we  can  get,  fret  designs  indi 
cate  mesas  and  canons.  Inverted  pyramids  are  the  whirlwinds 
as  they  descend  into  the  canons.  Squares  connected'  by  lines  in 
dicate  a  number  of  families  joined  by  ties  of  blood  relation 
ship. 

The  Navajo  blanket  is  a  gem  of  barbaric  weaving.  Of  a 
startling  combination  of  bright  colors,  it  would  be  hideous  except 
for  the  perfect  harmony  in  the  arrangement  of  the  colors.  There 
may  be  faults  of  weave,  texture,  or  pattern,  but  never  really  a  fault 
in  the  blending  of  colors.  Blue,  or  black,  and  white  are  effectively 
used  with  colors  in  maintaining  this  harmony. 

Plate  V  is  from  a  modern  blanket  that  has  had  ten  years  of 
constant  use  on  the  floor  as  a  rug.  It  was  made  in  1891  of  native 
wool  entirely,  the  colors  being  indigo  blue,  native  black  and  ana- 
line  red.  Its  emblems  are  limited  to  those  of  mountains  and 
crosses,  and  its  size  is  thirty-six  by  sixty  inches.  This  blanket 
has  been  used  on  the  porch  a  portion  of  the  time,  exposed  to  the 
sun  and  wind,  but  has  not  changed  color,  except  to  soften  a  trifle. 
It  has  been  washed  a  number  of  times  in  the  ordinary  way  of  wash 
ing  flannels,  and,  as  may  be  noted,  the  red  held  its  own,  and  did 
not  run  into  the  white,  as  would  have  been  the  case  if  a  very  good 


'LATE    VIII       A    c  (>ml>in.iri<m   of"  bay  eta   and 
Gcrmantown    yarn. 


THE  BLANKET.  117 

mineral  dye  had  not  been  used.  This  is  evidence  that  if  the  traders 
would  insist  upon  the  Navajos  using  only  the  best  quality  of  min 
eral  dyes  there  would  not  be  much  to  be  feared  from  them. 

Plate  VI  is  from  a  fine  old  specimen  bearing  the  Navajo 
Head  Chief's  emblem,  of  the  period  of  1865,  made  of  native  wool; 
the  colors  being-  those  of  indigo  and  native  dyes.  These  are  the 
true  old  colors — black,  blue,  red  and  white.  The  design  is  the 
Navajo  Head  Chief's  insignia  of  that  period — intended  only  for 
the  Chiefs,  and,  until  recently,  held  sacred  to  their  use. 

The  Navajo  blanket  is  barbaric  in  effects,  and  that  is  chiefly 
why  we  like  it.  In  perfect  accord  with  itself,  it  seems  to  fit  in 
almost  any  place.  The  only  exception  is  that  it  would  not  be  in 
good  taste  to  use  it  in  elaborately  furnished  rooms  having  delicate 
shades  of  finishings.  The  coarser  grades  make  good  rugs  for  the 
porch,  and  they  can  also  be  used  to  good  advantage  for  lap  robes, 
camp  bedding,  in  country  clubs  and  country  homes,  and  on  yachts. 
The  finer  qualities  are  desirable  for  portieres,  especially  for  the 
door  leading  to  the  Indian  or  oriental  room,  or  den.  Some  are 
fit  to  hang  on  the  walls  as  pictures — as  examples  of  the  artistic 
conceptions  that  have  been  developed  in  the  minds  of  untutored 
native  women.  As  a  rug  on  the  stair  landing,  or  on  the  floor  of 
the  hall  or  bedroom,  as  a  covering  for  the  couch  or  hall  seat,  or 
thrown  over  the  stair  railing,  it  seems  at  home;  and  in  none  of 
these  places  will  it  quarrel  with  its  surroundings. 

Some  blankets  seventy-five  years  old,  and  that  have  been  in 
constant  use,  seem  almost  as  good  as  new.  The  colors  tone  down 
with  age  like  those  of  an  oriental  rug,  and  appear  more  beautiful 
because  of  age.  This  is  one  reason  why  connoisseurs  are  search 
ing  for  old  blankets;  and  another  is  that  the  weaves  and  colors 
of  the  old  blankets  are  not  reproduced  in  the  new.  Unfortunately, 
it  was  a  custom  at  one  time  among  the  Navajos  (but  long  since 
discontinued),  to  burn  the  belongings  of  the  dead  in  the  funeral 
ceremonies,  and  later  to  bury  them  with  the  dead ;  and  in  this 


118  THE   NAVAJO  AND   HIS   BLANKET. 

manner  many  choice  old  blankets  were  destroyed.  A  large  propor 
tion  of  the  really  good  old  weaves  that  survive  are  now  in  the 
hands  of  collectors  or  dealers.  A  few  may  still  be  found  among 
the  Navajos,  but  most  of  these  are  old  heirlooms  that  cannot  be 
purchased  at  any  reasonable  price. 

For  more  than  a  hundred  years  the  Navajos  have  been  dis 
posing  of  their  blankets  in  trade  with  the  Mexicans  and  with  the 
Pueblo,  Ute  and  Apache  Indians.  Any  one  disposed  to  step  be 
yond  the  traders  and  dealers  in  blankets  to  obtain  rare  specimens 
should  not  visit  the  Navajo  country,  but  should  go  to  the  rural 
homes  of  the  New  Mexicans,  to  the  community  houses  of  the 
Pueblos,  and  to  the  tepees  of  the  Utes  and  Apaches  in  almost  in 
accessible  places  in  the  valleys,  the  canons,  and  in  the  mountains, 
where  travel  must  be  afoot  or  on  horseback.  It  is  in  these  places 
that  the  finest  old  specimens  now  to  be  had  from  hands  other  than 
those  of  the  traders,  dealers,  and  collectors  may  be  bought  at  prices 
not  unreasonable  in  view  of  the  rather  eager  demand  at  present 
prevailing  for  them. 

With  the  exceptions  noted  above,  the  blankets  to  be  obtained 
now  directly  from  the  Navajos  are  of  modern  weave.  Indeed, 
most  of  them  would  be  of  very  recent  make — perhaps  not  more 
than  two  years  old.  But  I  do  not  mean  to  imply  by  this  that  the 
only  desirable  blanket  is  the  old  one,  or  that  the  modern  blanket 
of  good  color  is  at  all  inferior  to  the  old  for  ornament  or  use. 
The  old  blankets  are  sought  for  by  connoisseurs  and  other  people 
making  collections,  who  are  willing  to  pay  well  for  humoring 
their  fancies.  The  old  blankets  are  not  cheap,  but  new  ones  are, 
if  the  amount  of  skill  and  labor  required  to  produce  them  be  duly 
considered.  New  blankets  of  to-day  will  be  old  blankets  by  and 
by,  and  if  carefully  selected  as  to  weave,  patterns  and  colors,  will 
grow  in  value  each  year.  My  interest  in  Navajo  work  was 
awakened  twenty  years  ago,  and  at  that  time  I  sought  only  such 
pieces  as  pleased  my  senses  of  colors  and  figures,  and,  as  a  rule, 


THE  BLANKET.  121 

selected  new  ones,  because  the  colors  were  brighter  and  the  pat 
terns  more  complicated.  It  was  several  years  before  1  realized 
the  truth  that  old  and  sometimes  tattered  specimens  were  in  cer 
tain  respects  more  desirable  and  really  worth  more  than  the  new 
ones,  in  the  light  of  fancy  as  well  as  in  intrinsic  value. 

However,  I  have  some  blankets  in  my  collection  that  were  not 
old  when  purchased,  between  fifteen  and  twenty  years  ago,  but 
which  were  prudently  selected,  that  show  signs  of  toning  down  in 
color ;  and  as  the  roughness  is  worn  off,  they  now  vie  in  appearance 
with  the  older  ones,  and  would  bring  in  the  open  market  many 
times  their  original  cost. 

Plate  VII  shows  a  valuable  old  specimen  in  excellent  state 
of  preservation,  with  colors  of  indigo  blue,  bayeta  and  the  dull 
mahogany  red  of  Brazil  wood.  It  was  made  about  the  year  1840 
and  is  forty-five  by  sixty-eight  inches  in  dimensions. 

The  beautiful  blai  ket  represented  by  Plate  VIII  is  a  fine  ex 
ample  of  the  combination  of  bayeta,  native  wool  and  "German- 
town"  yarn..  The  red  is  bayeta;  the  white  and  black,  native  wool; 
and  the  green  and  yellow,  Germantown.  Th's  was  made  about 
1870,  near  the  close  of  the  bayeta  period  and  in  the  beginning  of 
the  use  of  commercial  yarns  among  the  Navajos.  The  emblems 
signify  mountain  ranges  enclosing  many  lodges  protected  by 
water  and  by  the  "Lightning  Spirit."  The  blanket  measures 
forty-nine  by  sixty-one  inches. 

Good  Navajo  blankets,  and  inferior  ones  also,  will  be  found 
in  the  stocks  of  dealers  in  Indian  "curios"  anywhere  in  the  West. 
But  it  should  be  remembered  that  no  genuine  Navajo  blanket  is 
altogether  bad.  All  are  more  or  less  characteristic,  but  some  are 
coarse  and  loosely  woven;  and  these  are  cheap  in  proportion  to 
their  coarseness.  But  nearly  all  late  native-wool  blankets  appear 
coarse  as  compared  with  the  old  bayeta  or  modern  Germantown 
fabrics.  If  the  yarn  be  well  spun  and  the  weave  close  and  firm, 
the  native-wool  blankets  will,  if  used  as  rugs,  tone  down  in  color, 


1±!  THE   NAVAJO  AND   HIS   BLANKET. 

wear  smooth  with  use,  and  increase  in  value  for  many  years.  As 
opportunity  occurs  for  careful  examination  of  the  stocks  carried 
by  dealers,  one  may  gradually  learn  the  distinctive  features  of 
modern  Navajo  weaving.  But  if  one  becomes  interested  in  study 
ing  the  products  of  different  periods,  visits  should  be  made  to  pri 
vate  collections  to  understand  well  the  whole  scheme  of  color,  de 
sign  or  weave. 

Mr.  B.  G.  Wilson,  of  Albuquerque,  N.  M.,  has  a  collection 
of  quite  wide  range  and  which  includes  many  rare  specimens.  But 
the  finest  exhibit  within  my  knowledge,  one  covering  from  the 
earliest  period  down  to  the  present  time,  and  probably  the  finest 
collection  in  the  world,  is  that  of  Seligman  Brothers,  of  Santa 
Fe,  N.  M.  My  own  collection  of  about  seventy-five  pieces  has 
been  carefully  made  and  includes  nearly  the  whole  extent  of  Nava 
jo  weaving;  a  good  representation  of  the  development  of  the  art 
through  a  period  of  seventy-five  years. 

The  Navajo  weaves  may  be  divided  into  four  general  classes : 
The  very  old  in  natural  colors,  the  bayeta,  the  native  wool  with 
native  dyes,  and  the  Germantown.  By  "native  wool"  is  meant 
wool  taken  from  the  Navajo  sheep;  by  "natural  colors,"  the  natu 
ral  black,  white  and  gray  of  the  wool ;  the  term  "bayeta"  is  applied 
to  blankets  in  which  more  or  less  of  this  material  is  shown  with 
out  regard  to  the  area  of  other  colors ;  by  "native  dyes"  is  meant 
the  colors  made  by  the  Navajos  without  outside  assistance,  and  as 
indigo  has  always  been  used  with  the  colors  produced  by  them,  it 
is  included  among  the  native  dyes  to  avoid  confusion;  and  by 
"Germantown,"  blankets  woven  of  the  commercial  "Germantown" 
yarn." 

The  old  blankets  may  be,  for  convenience,  divided  into  the 
early  and  the  later  types  with  respect  to  their  patterns,  though 
the  reader  will  remember  that  the  first  ones  made  were  plain  white 
fabrics.  The  early-pattern  blankets  have  broad  stripes  of  black 
and  white  only — the  crude,  first  conception  of  design.  The  sec- 


1  \         \     Navajo    l.cautv,    wholly    oi 

'\\cnt\-ruf    years    old. 


THE  BLANKET.  123 

ond,  or  later,  type  consists  of  broad  stripes  of  white,  black,  and 
gray;  the  latter  having  been  made  by  mixing  the  two  natural  col 
ors  of  the  wrool,  and  thus  marking  the  second  step  toward  pattern- 
design. 

The  bayeta  blankets  may  also  be  separated  into  two  divisions. 
The  first,  or  older,  has  narrow  stripes  of  the  bayeta  red  alternated 
with  wider  stripes  of  the  natural  colors ;  stripes  constituting  the 
entire  pattern  effect.  In  the  second,  or  later,  we  have  the  begin 
ning  and  the  development  of  complicated  designs  in  which  the 
conception  of  symbols  made  its  first  appearance;  and  from  this 
beginning  has  grown  the  somewhat  elaborate  system  of  symbolical 
figures  that  is  now  established  as  characteristic  of  Navajo  blanket 
designs.  The  bayeta  went  into  its  decline  about  1860,  but  did  not 
pass  entirelv  out  of  use  until  1875. 

The  native-wool  and  native-dye  blankets  originated  and  de 
veloped  in  the  same  period  as  that  of  the  bayetas,  but  outlived 
them.  The  native-dye  period  continued  undisturbed  until  the  in 
troduction  of  commercial  dyes,  about  1875,  and  since  then  there 
has  been  no  distinct  class  period.  For  some  native-wool  blankets 
the  native  dyes  were  exclusively  used;  for  many  others  both  the 
native  and  the  commercial  dyes  were  used;  and  for  still  others  the 
commercial  dyes  provided  all  the  colors  employed.  There  are, 
also,  some  blankets  made  of  a  combination  of  native  wool  and  of 
the  ready-dyed  Germantown  yarns.  The  native-wool  and  native- 
dye  blankets  are  good,  both  in  texture  and  color,  for  when  the 
Navajos  went  through  the  trouble  of  making  the  dyes  they  valued 
the  yarn  sufficiently  to  prompt  them  to  great  care  in  spinning 
and  weaving  it,  which  accounts  for  the  finer  texture  of  the  older 
weaves.  But  when  they  later  learned  that  they  could  color  yarn 
with  but  little  trouble  by  using  mineral  dyes,  they  became  some 
what  careless,  both  in  spinning  and  weaving,  and  the  result  in 
many  instances  was  a  blanket  below  the  standard  acceptable  to  lov 
ers  of  barbaric  art. 


124  THE   NAVAJO  AND   HIS   BLANKET. 

The  fourth,  or  Germantown,  class  is  one  not  to  be  ignored. 
When  introduced  the  fabric  was  called  the  ''innovation  blanket." 
It  is  made  of  so-called  Germantown  yarn  entirely,  in  all  of  the 
fanciful  colors  sent  out  by  the  mills,  and  if  the  colors  be  well  se 
lected,  keeping  as  closely  as  possible  within  the  lines  recognized 
as  those  of  Navajo  colors,  these  blankets  are  worth  more  than 
passing  attention.  Their  bright  colors  and  superior  weave  com 
mend  them  to  all  who  care  for  decorative  Navajo  blankets.  They 
were  first  made  about  the  year  1875,  but  only  a  few  had  been  pro 
duced  prior  to  1880.  I  have  one  of  the  older  of  this  class  and  it 
has  held  its  colors  remarkablv  well,  toning  down  sufficiently  to 
add  much  to  its  beauty. 

This  fine  blanket,  which  measures  forty-four  by  fifty-six  inches, 
is  brilliantly  represented  by  Plate  IX,  and  is  now  of  great  value 
on  account  of  its  age.  It  was  used  on  the  floor  as  a  rug  for  six 
years,  and  has  hung  on  the  wall  the  remainder  of  the  time,  but  is 
now  handsomer  than  when  purchased.  As  a  general  rule,  blankets 
of  this  class  are  fringed  at  both  ends,  the  fringe  being  made  of  the 
same  yarn  and  colors  as  appear  in  the  blanket.  The  service  of 
this  blanket  has  proved  the  excellence  of  its  weaving  and  of  its 
Germantown  ready-dyed  yarns,  and  also  that  it  is  not  a  mistake 
to  buy  a  thoroughly  good  piece  of  Navajo  weaving  of  German- 
town  yarns  when  a  beautiful  pattern  in  brilliant  colors  is  desired 
in  combination  with  great  durability. 

In  Plate  X  is  shown  another  fine  example  of  Navajo  weaving 
entirely  of  Germantown  yarn.  In  this  the  pattern  follows  closely 
the  lightning  design,  but  the  weaver  has  sacrificed  the  symbol  for 
harmony  of  effect,  so  that  in  this  detail  the  work  is  somewhat  im 
perfect  ;  but  the  mechanical  evenness  of  the  points  and  spurs  shows 
great  skill  and  care.  The  points  on  the  sides  indicate  that  in  the 
weaver's  family-clan  were  many  lodges.  She  was  long  celebrated 
for  her  skill,  but  during  the  closing  years  of  her  life  made  only 


THE  BLANKET.  125 

small  specimens.     This  one  is  only  twenty-seven  inches  square,  and 
was  made  about  1890. 

V  No  blanket  of  Navajo  weaving  is  fringed  except  the  German- 
town.  All  others  have  little  tufts  or  tassels  at  the  corners,  and  it 
may  often  be  noticed  that  old  blankets,  made  half  a  century  before 
Germantown  yarn  was  introduced,  have  little  tufts  of  that  yarn 
on  the  corners.  The  old  tassels  having  been  worn  away,  the  squaw 
replaced  them  immediately  with  such  yarn  as  she  had  at  hand. 
They  are  symbolical  of  the  four  corners  of  the  world,  and  she  can 
not  permit  the  symbols  to  be  absent  from  a  blanket  with  which 
she  has  anything  to  do. 

In  selecting  blankets,  if  possession  of  the  better  grades  only, 
be  desired,  one  should  guard  against  buying  anything  having  a 
cotton  warp.  This  was  quite  popular  with  the  Navajos  for  a  time, 
beginning  about  1880,  but  the  best  Indian  traders  have  discouraged 
the  use  of  it,  and  the  tendency  now  is  to  return  to  woolen  warp, 
in  weaving  both  native-wool  and  Germantown  blankets.  Many 
good-looking  blankets  yet  in  the  market  have  this  stain  upon  their 
lineage,  but  it  can  be  detected  by  opening  the  woof  sufficient  to 
expose  the  warp.  It  is  often  the  case,  however,  that  wool  warp 
is  spun  so  hard  that  at  first  gl;  nee  it  may  be  mistaken  for  cotton, 
and  a  close  examination  is  needed  to  determine  which  is  which. 
Blankets  have  been  offered  me  as  old  ones,  showing  the  marks  of 
wear  and  of  age,  that  might  have  deceived  me  only  for  the  tell-tale 
cotton  warp  that  places  them  in  a  later  period. 

It  should  not  be  assumed  that  because  a  blanket  is  worn  full 
of  holes  and  has  a  pattern  of  uncertain  red,  that  it  must,  of  neces- 
city,  be  an  old  bayeta.  Many  comparatively  new  ones  have  seen 
such  hard  usage  that  they  are  in  a  sadly  dilapidated  condition.  As 
a  general  rule  the  Navajos  are  not  particular  to  take  good  care  of 
an  ordinary  blanket  retained  for  their  own  needs,  but  use  it  as  a 
saddle  blanket,  or  for  protecting  grain  exposed  to  the  elements, 
or  as  a  covering  for  the  earthen  floors  of  their  hogans.  On  the 


126  THE   NAVAJO  AND   HIS   BLANKET. 

contrary,  and  as  a  rule,  the  finer  ones  have  been  carefully  cared 
for,  and,  in  many  instances,  laid  away  and  kept  for  generations 
without  being  devoted  to  any  use.  This  accounts  for  the  perfect 
conditon  in  which  we  find  many  old  specimens.  I  have  one  almost 
solid  bayeta  that  can  be  traced  back  to  1848,  and  which  has  the 
appearance  of  having  just  come  from  the  loom.  We  rejoice  to 
find  a  pedigreed  blanket.  That  is,  one  that  we  can  trace  in  owner 
ship  back  to  the  time  it  was  made,  and  the  more  distant  the  period, 
the  more  satisfactory  is  the  blanket.  There  are  many  such,  well 
authenticated,  that  can  be  traced  as  far  back  as  1825.  I  take  great 
pride  in  one  of  mine  that  was  brought  home  by  a  soldier  who  had 
served  with  Kit  Carson  in  the  troublous  times  of  1863,  and  kept 
by  his  family  until  two  years  ago. 

The  sizes  of  Navajo  blankets  vary  from  twenty-four  by 
thirty-six  inches — the  common  saddle  blanket  size,  to  fifty-four  by 
eighty-four  inches — for  scrapes.  Intermediate  sizes  are  made  for 
use  as  rugs,  and  are  so  made  only  because  the  white  man  wants 
to  buy  them  in  such  sizes.  But  some  very  large  fabrics  are  woven, 
as  large  as  eight  by  ten  feet,  in  most  instances  to  order,  for  covering 
a  porch  or  a  hall.  They  are  usually  thick,  coarse  and  heavy,  and 
will  give  good  service.  An  interesting  fact  connected  with  these 
great  fabrics  is  that  it  is  safe  to  assume  that  no  two  are  exactly 
alike.  Therefore  the  possessor  of  a  good  and  pleasing  one  has  the 
satisfaction  of  being  quite  sure  that  no  one  else  in  the  world  has  one 
just  like  it. 

Occasionally  when  a  dealer  has  found  a  typical  old  pattern 
that  he  wishes  to  continue  in  the  market,  he  sends  it  out  into  the 
Navajo  country  to  have  a  number  made  like  it.  In  a  measure  he 
succeeds  in  getting  about  what  he  wants,  but  as  the  weavers  are  not 
accustomed  to  working  from  patterns,  they  make  some  mistakes. 
Therefore  while  the  copies  as  a  whole  are  rather  uniform  in  gen 
eral  appearance,  a  close  comparison  always  proves  that  no  two  are 
precisely  alike.  However,  this  is  such  a  departure  from  the  general 


THE  BLANKET.  127 

usage,  and  the  dealer  so  soon  tires  of  seeing-  a  number  of  blankets 
around  his  place  so  nearly  similar,  that  the  experiment  is  seldom 
repeated. 

The  Navajo  "squaw-dress"  is  of  especial  interest.  It  is  made 
in  two  pieces,  each  of  which  is  usually  about  thirty  by  forty  inches 
in  size.  They  are  sewed  together  on  one  side,  the  other  being  left 
open,  and  the  "dress"  worn  wrapped  around  the  body,  with  the 
open  side  on  the  right.  The  upper  right-hand  corners  are  fastened 
together  over  the  right  shoulder,  which  holds  the  opposite,  or 
closed  side,  up  under  the  left  arm.  The  center  is  black,  generally 
the  natural  black  of  the  wool,  but  the  ends  are  always  woven  in 
red.  The  typical  squaw-dress  has  only  the  two  colors,  red  and 
black,  the  reds  at  the  ends  of  the  two  fabrics  being  ornamented  with 
symbolical  figures  to  suit  the  fancy  of  the  weaver.  As  they  do 
not  make  many  of  these  now,  the  majority  offered  for  sale  are  old 
ones,  the  ends  of  which  are  very  apt  to  be  bayeta.  There  are, 
however,  a  few  recent  ones  to  be  had,  which  can  be  distinguished 
by  the  coarser  yarn  used  in  the  red,  and  the  general  appearance 
of  newness. 

The  Arizona  branch  of  the  Navajos  have  been  sending  out 
within  a  recent  period  a  well-made  and  attractive  blanket  that  has 
been  represented  to  be  of  woven  goat-hair,  or  of  a  mixture  of  goat- 
hair  and  wool.  I  do  not  know  who  is  responsible  for  the  deception. 
Possibly  it  was  the  dealer  who  first  introduced  and  sold  carpet  yarn 
to  the  Indians ;  for  that  is  what  it  is.  But  the  blanket  should  not 
be  condemned  on  account  of  the  deception,  for  it  is  a  good  one, 
promising  fast  colors  and  great  durability;  and  may  be  classed  in 
order  of  merit  with  the  Germantown. 

Woven  into  certain  old  and  almost  priceless  Navajo  fabrics 
we  find  three  colors,  red,  yellow  and  green.  Judging  from  the 
peculiarity  of  texture,  and  of  the  shades  of  colors  used,  which  are 
unlike  anything  else  we  find  in  Navajo  work,  these  weaves  and 
their  colors  antedate  the  bayeta  and  the  yellow  and  green  of  the 


128  THE   NAVAJO  AND   HIS   BLANKET. 

native  dyes.  All  the  colors  are  strong,  and  quite  unlike  anything 
found  in  blankets  of  later  weaving.  They  are  traced  to  discarded 
army  uniforms — the  scarlet  coat  of  the  infantry,  the  yellow  of  the 
cavalry,  and  the  green  of  the  medical  staff.  In  all  countries  there 
are  times  when  army  clothing  is  sold  for  anything  it  will  bring, 
and  in  cases  where  the  colors  are  such  as  to  be  attractive  to  primi 
tive  people  it  is  purchased  by  traders  for  barter.  It  is  quite  evident 
that  some  of  this  second-hand  clothing  was  utilized  by  the  Navajos 
in  the  same  manner  as  the  bayeta  was  treated  by  them  later- 
raveled  and  worked  into  blankets.  The  supply  available  to  them 
apparently  was  quickly  exhausted,  and  it  appears  to  have  been 
soon  followed  by  the  bayeta  period  and  the  production  of  native 
vegetable  dyes.  These  blankets  are  probably  the  oldest  in  existence 
in  which  high  colors  appear,  and  are  exceedingly  rare.  In  all  my 
research  I  have  seen  only  two,  but  have  learned  of  the  whereabouts 
of  several  others.  One  of  the  two  that  I  have  seen  is  valued 
at  $1,000. 

We  must  consider  any  blanket  woven  by  the  Navajos  as  a 
Navajo  blanket.  To  be  sure  there  would  seem  to  be  a  more  correct 
sentiment  associated  with  one  the  material  of  which  was  sheared 
from  a  Navajo  sheep,  the  wool  carded,  spun  and  colored,  and  the 
fabric  woven  by  a  Navajo  squaw,  than  there  is  in  a  blanket  woven 
of  Germantown  or  of  carpet  yarn,  by  the  same  squaw.  But  this 
is  only  a  matter  of  sentiment,  and  leaves  each  of  us  free  to  be  gov 
erned  by  our  different  fancies  in  making  selections;  and  if  each 
pleases  himself,  the  others  should  rest  content. 


CONCLUSION 


THE  general  purpose  of  this  little 
volume  has  been  fulfilled  in  the  pre 
ceding  pages  so  far  as  I  had  in  view 
when  it  was  undertaken;  which  was 
to  give  some  account  of  the  Navajo 
people,  of  their  myths,  legends,  and 
traditions,  of  their  country,  their 
manners  and  customs,  and  especially 
of  their  exceedingly  interesting  prin 
cipal  industry. 

Beyond  presenting  the  substance 
of  their  folk-lore  concerning  their 
origin,  history,  and  so  forth,  I  have 
not  attempted  to  deal  with  it  as  a  sub 
ject,  nor  do  I  intend  doing  so  in 
these  concluding  pages.  But  I  ask 
the  reader's  indulgence  while  I  refer 

briefly  to  some  curious  and  perhaps  suggestive  elements  in  their 
stories  of  the  past,  and  in  certain  of  their  present  beliefs,  customs 
and  practices,  the  outlines  of  which  have  already  been  related. 

While  it  is  evident  that  these  have  been  but  little  affected  by 
what  we  may  call  American  civilization,  it  is  impossible  to  de 
termine  to  what  extent  they  have  been  influenced  by  the  somewhat 
long-existing  associations  the  Navajos  have  had  with  the  Pueblos 
and  other  tribes  around  them ;  and  by  the  less  intimate  contact  with 
Spaniards  and  Mexicans.  The  more  potent  of  these  influences 
probably  would  have  come  from  that  strange  people,  the  Pueblos, 
of  whom  there  are  still  a  considerable  number  of  decadent  tribes 


FIGURE   20 — *    ~:f     "the    young    Navajo 
woman  in   her  bridal  array" 


130  THE   NAVAJO   AND    HIS   BLANKET. 

or  clans  in  our  southwest  country.  We  have  seen  that  the  Navajos 
derived  their  knowledge  of  spinning  and  weaving  from  them,  and 
also  that  many  circumstances  suggest  that  it  is  not  altogether  im 
probable  that  the  Pueblos  may  be  far-removed  descendants  of 
remnants  of  the  race  of  Cliff  Dwellers,  from  whom  they  would 
have  inherited  primitive  arts,  beliefs  and  customs.  Therefore  any 
attempt  to  deal  with  Xavajo  folk-lore  would  bring  the  Pueblos 
into  the  discussion. 

The  intelligent  visitor  to  the  Pueblo  country  finds  it  difficult 
to  avoid  an  impression  that  the  objects  and  scenes  before  him  have 
in  them  something,  which  he  cannot  define  specifically,  that  reminds 
him  of  those  of  the  Asiatic  cradle-land  of  the  human  race.  The 
intangible  things  which  artists  call  "atmosphere,"  and  "local  color," 
are  here  the  atmosphere  and  local  color  of  western  Asia ;  and  the 
aspects  of  a  group  of  pueblo  buildings  (Figure  21)  amid  dreary 
surroundings  are  strangelv  like  those  presented  in  pictures  of  life 
and  places  in  that  old  land. 

The  ruined  buildings  and  minor  relics  of  the  Cliff  Dwellers 
offer  much  evidence  in  support  of  the  theory  that  those  people  wrere 
of  Asiatic  origin ;  and  among  the  Pueblos  are  found  what  seem 
to  be  links  of  a  broken  chain  that  once  connected  them  with  the 
older  people ;  and  some  of  which  are  also  present  among  the 
Navajos. 

In  the  weaving  done  by  the  Cliff  Dwellers,  in  that  by  the 
Pueblos,  and  that  by  the  Xavajos,  there  is  a  similarity  in  certain 
respects,  but  in  all  there  is  a  suggestion  of  Asiatic  fabrics ;  though 
for  the  purpose  of  such  a  comparison  the  Pueblo  and  the  Navajo 
weaving  should  be  considered  as  one.  Figures  delineated  on  the 
Cliff  Dwellers'  pottery  resemble  those  on  ceramic  objects  made  in 
Asia  long  ago,  and  which  also  appear  on  some  of  more  recent  pro 
duction  there.  The  rectilinear  fret  that  is  present  in  various  modi 
fied  forms  on  much  of  their  pottery,  is  the  same  as  that  employed 
by  the  ancient  Greeks  in  detail  ornamentation  of  their  architecture. 


CONCLUSION.  131 

This  fret-figure,  as  are  others  of  the  designs  on  the  Cliff  Dwellers' 
products,  is  common  on  Pueblo  pottery  and  in  Pueblo  weaving; 
and  from  that  source  it  is  evident  that  the  Navajos,  who  use  it  in 
their  blankets,  derived  it.  Moreover,  the  familiar  Greek  scrolls 
and  spirals  are  duplicated  in  both  Cliff  Dweller  and  Pueblo  orna 
mental  work.  The  Swastika,  often  figured  by  the  Cliff  Dwellers  on 
their  pottetry,  and  also  by  the  Pueblos  on  their  pottery  and  in  their 
weaving,  and  from  the  latter  borrowed  by  the  Navajos,  is  too 
strange  an  emblem  to  have  had  an  independent  origin  among 
either  the  Cliff  Dwellers  or  the  Pueblos.  To  the  latter,  and  also  to 
the  Navajos,  it  has  practically  the  same  significance  it  possesses  for 
the  Hindu. 

Those  of  the  Cliff  Dwellers'  dwelling-places  that  were  chiseled 
out  of  the  great  bluffs  of  rock,  are  significantly  like  the  Rock 
Temples  of  India  which  were  formed  in  the  same  manner;  and 
their  built-up  structures  are  not  without  similarity  to  old  edifices 
that  survive  in  Asia  and  northern  Africa. 

As  were  the  Cliff  Dwellers,  the  Pueblos  are  communal,  but 
their  clan-dwellings  are  not  built  in  recesses  in  cliffs.  They  stand 
in  the  open,  sometimes  on  top  of  a  small  mesa  that  resembles  a 
truncated  isolated  hill  having  precipitous  sides. 

Turning  now  to  consideration  of  the  elements  in  the  Navajos' 
folk-lore  to  which  I  have  referred,  we  may  perhaps  find  in  them  a 
drift  or  tendency  toward  implying  an  Asiatic  origin  for  these  people 
also.  But  I  do  not  ask  attention  to  them  in  the  spirit  of  a  partisan, 
nor  do  I  place  myself  in  the  attitude  of  a  special  pleader  for  the 
proposition. 

In  the  myths,  legends,  and  traditions  of  all  peoples  there  are 
absurd  tales,  contradictory  variations,  and  more  or  less  confusion, 
which  render  very  uncertain  any  result  of  an  attempt  to  reduce 
them  to  a  consistent  form  representing  probabilities ;  and,  as  the 
reader  has  seen,  those  of  the  Navajos  with  relation  to  their  origin 


132  THE   NAVAJO  AND   HIS   BLANKET. 

and  to  their  migration  to  their  present  country  are  not  free  from 
such  defects. 

The  belief  that  their  progenitors  came  out  of  the  earth,  if  in 
tended  to  account  for  their  "creation,"  is  not  inconsistent  with  our 
own  lingering  myth  that  man  was  made  "of  the  dust  of  the  ground," 
and  implies  for  their  theory  the  same  Asiatic  origin  to  which  we 
are  indebted  for  ours.  The  conception  of  the  earth  as  the  mother 
of  all  living  things  appears  to  be  as  old  as  mankind,  but  it  is  not 
clear  that  the  Navajos  have  this  in  mind  when  they  use  an  expres 
sion  equivalent  to  "our  mother  land,"  as  they  are  intruders  in  the 
country  they  now  occupy. 

The  belief  referred  to  in  the  foregoing  was  common  to  many 
of  the  Indian  tribes  of  the  western  half  of  North  America,  though 
some  of  them  interpreted  it  as  meaning  that  their  ancestors  lived 
within  the  earth  at  first,  but  by  their  skill  and  cunning  succeeded 
in  making  their  way  out  to  the  surface. 

The  two  Navajo  traditions  of  their  ancestors'  migration  to 
this  continent,  one  that  they  came  by  water,  and  the  other  that 
they  crossed  a  narrow  sea  beyond  the  setting  sun  and  landed  on 
the  northern  shores  of  this  country,  may  be  regarded  as  one  and 
the  same  reminiscence.  If  the  story  be  entitled  to  serious  consider 
ation  it  would,  of  course,  suggest  that  the  pioneer  Athabascans, 
from  whom  the  Navajos  descended,  crossed  at  Bering's  Strait,  or 
by  way  of  the  chain  of  Aleutian  Islands.  The  fact  that  that  family 
of  Indians  has  so  long  occupied  the  western  part  of  British  Amer 
ica  lends  some  support  to  this  theory  of  their  Asiatic  origin. 

The  myth  of  the  "ship-rock"  or  "rock-ship"  provided  by  the 
Great  Spirit,  and  upon  which  the  Navajos  were  carried  high  in  the 
air  to  their  present  country,  yields  to  no  reasonable  conception  of  a 
source  from  which  it  could  have  arisen,  nor  of  an  event  which 
could  have  served  as  a  basis  for  it.  However  it  is  possible  that  the 
ship  idea  in  the  story  may  have  been  suggested  by  some  vague 
knowledge  of  Asiatic  legends  of  the  deluge  and  Noah's  ark. 


CONCLUSION.  135 

The  other  tale,  in  which  the  Xavajos'  forefathers  are  repre 
sented  as  having  been  brought  from  the  north  on  the  back  of  a 
swift  and  obliging  great  bird,  reminds  us  of  some  of  the  adventures 
of  Sinbad  as  related  in  the  "Arabian  Nights"  stories,  and  of  fables 
which  tell  of  small  birds  riding  on  the  backs  of  large  ones  in  certain 
emergencies  in  ornithological  history;  "as  an  eagle  stirreth  up  her 
nest,  fluttereth  over  her  young,  spreadeth  abroad  her  wings,  taketh 
them,  beareth  them  on  her  wings." 

That  these  intrepid  aerial  navigators  were  guided  in  their 
migration  by  a  messenger  from  the  sky  is  nothing  new,  for  there 
are  other  legends  of  primitive  peoples  having  been  so  favored  in 
their  wanderings.  Moreover  were  not  Moses  and  his  unruly  horde 
led  in  the  way  by  heavenly  pillars  of  smoke  bv  day,  and  pillars 
of  fire  by  night? 

While  the  Navajos  have  been,  within  narrow  limitations,  influ 
enced  by  contact  with  those  who  professed  the  Christian  religion, 
their  real  religious  beliefs  are  bound  up  in  their  worship  of  the 
heavenly  bodies  and  the  powers  of  Nature.  Their  adoration  of 
these  is  consistent  with  the  practices  of  nearly  all  primitive  races, 
but  in  it  are  some  features  that  would  seem  to  be  related  to  old- 
time  faiths  of  western  Asia  and  of  the  Mediterranean  region,  where 
Sabaism  attained  its  greatest  development  and  influence. 

One  of  the  conceptions  of  the  Navajos  is  that  of  the  sun  as  the 
Father  and  the  earth  as  the  Mother  of  all  life ;  and  this  is  exactly 
paralleled  by  an  ancient  Greek  belief.  Another,  in  which  the  moon 
takes  the  place  of  the  earth  as  the  Mother,  is  the  same  as  that  of 
oriental  peoples  of  antiquity  by  whom  the  moon  was  regarded  as 
the  sun's  wife. 

The  most  important  duties  of  the  Navajo  medicine  man  are 
those  of  a  priest  of  the  sun,  and  in  this  capacity  he  is  the  "Shaman." 
An  ancient  Hebrew  name  for  the  sun  was  "Shamesh"  or 
"Shemesh."  Whether  this  consanguinity  of  terms  and  their  appli- 


136  THE  NAVAJO  AND   HIS   BLANKET. 

cation  is  significant  in  connection  with  what  we  are  considering 
here  I  shall  leave  to  the  reader  for  decision. 

The  requirement  that  the  door  of  the  permanent  winter  hogan 
must  face  to  the  east  is  plainly  associated  with  sun-worship,  but 
for  this  the  Navajo  home-builder  has  many  illustrious  examples 
among  the  ancient  temple-builders  of  the  Mediterranean  region. 
The  Hebrews  of  antiquity  fronted  their  tablernacle,  shrines,  altars, 
and  tents  to  the  east,  and  the  main  portal  of  Solomon's  barbarically 
decorated  "house  of  the  Lord"  was  illuminated  by  the  light  of  the 
rising  sun. 

The  Navajo  altar  with  its  motley  appendages  and  curious  em 
bellishments,  before  which  all  religious  ceremonies  are  conducted, 
may  represent  in  some  of  its  details  the  effects  of  modern  religious 
influences,  but  to  the  Navajo  mind  it  has  a  general  significance 
and  certain  associations  which  would  not  have  been  derived  from 
that  source,  but  seem  to  be  connected  in  a  misty  way  with  ancient 
oriental  ideas. 

The  close  relation  of  the  snake  with  the  Navajos'  religious 
beliefs  and  forms  of  worship  is  another  factor  in  the  stock  of  argu 
ments  used  by  those  who  attribute  a  remote  Asiatic  origin  to  these 
people.  It  is  true  that  the  Navajos  may  have  adopted  the  Pueblos' 
snake  superstitions,  just  as  we  have  taken  over  and  made  our  own 
the  old  Hebrew^  version  of  the  story  of  Eve's  disastrous  indiscretion, 
but  they  deny  that  they  did  so. 

When  the  young  Navajo  woman  in  her  bridal  array  (Figure 
20)  joins  the  young  man — not  of  her  choice,  but  who  has  made 
a  satisfactory  deal  with  her  father  for  her — in  the  marriage  cere 
mony  of  eating  a  cake  or  loaf,  is  there  in  this  custom  a  reminiscence 
of  the  ancient  Babylonians'  offerings  of  bread  or  cakes  to  Ishtar, 
their  goddess  of  the  planet  Venus — the  goddess  of  sexual  relations? 
Among  the  Babylonians  these  cakes  or  loaves  were  specially  pre 
pared  for  her,  and  were  called  "the  bread  of  Ishtar." 

The  use  of  water  in  the  Navajo  marriage  ceremony  might  be 


PLATE   X— Another  fine  example  of  Navajo 
•ntirely  o*   Germantown  yarn. 


CONCLUSION.  137 

referred  to  knowledge  of  the  baptismal  rite  acquired  from  modern 
religious  practices,  were  it  not  known  that  the  custom  antedates 
the  Spanish  invasion  of  that  region.  Sometimes  the  medicine  man 
pours  water  on  the  hands  of  both  the  bride  and  groom;  at  other 
times  the  groom  applies  the  water  to  the  bride's  hands ;  and  at  still 
others  they  lave  their  hands  together.  But  "living  water"  from  a 
spring  or  running  stream  must  be  used.  The  conceptions  upon 
which  all  baptismal  beliefs  are  founded  are  of  extremely  remote 
antiquity,  and  the  rite  can  be  traced  ages  back  of  the  period  with 
which  Christian  people  usually  associate  its  introduction.  Possibly 
the  Navajos  may  have  borrowed  this  custom  from  the  Pueblos, 
but  they  claim  it  as  their  own  from  immemorial  time,  and  I  have 
not  been  able  to  learn  that  the  present-day  Pueblos  observe  it. 

The  color  symbolism  of  the  Navajos  would  also  seem  to  have 
some  connection  with  oriental  peoples,  but  as  they  derived  their 
knowledge  of  spinning  and  weaving  and  also  the  principles  of  their 
designs  from  the  Pueblos,  it  is  probable  that  much,  though  not  all, 
of  their  color-symbolism  came  from  the  same  source.  Undoubtedly 
the  Navajos  have  developed  and  extended  it,  but  the  fact  remains 
nevertheless  that  oriental  astrological  influences  appear  to  be  present 
in  the  associations  connected  with  it.  Red  and  black  stand  for  the 
creative  spirit  in  which  is  combined  the  father  and  mother  ele 
ments  ;  red  for  fire,  the  creative  father ;  black  for  water,  the  creative 
mother.  Each  of  these  colors  correspondingly  refers,  also,  to  the 
creation  of  the  world  as  well  as  to  the  origin  of  plant  and  animal 
life.  In  other  words  there  is  here  laid  down  the  absolute  true 
biological  proposition  that  there  must  be  heat  and  moisture  in  com 
bination  in  the  production  of  living  things.  Furthermore  black 
is  the  color  of  the  north,  and  blue  of  the  south;  while  red  is  the 
male  color,  and  blue  the  female.  It  is  difficult  to  believe  that  sucH 
conceptions,  that  have  their  counterparts  in  oriental  astrology,  had 
an  independent  origin  among  the  native  people  of  our  southwest 
country. 


l.'JS  THE  NAVAJO  AND   HIS   BLANKET. 

The  reader  may  recall  a  juvenile  belief  that  beneath  each  end 
of  the  rainbow  "a  pot  of  gold"  might  be  found  buried  in  the  earth. 
The  Navajo  in  a  less  worldly,  a  less  selfish,  spirit  thinks  that  at 
each  end  of  the  l>ow  messages  from  the  Great  Deity  may  be  re 
ceived.  Did  not  Xoah  receive  a  promise-message  from  his  God 
saying  "the  waters  shall  no  more  become  a  flood,"  and  is  not  the 
rainbow  "the  token  of  the  covenant?" 

It  is  evident  that  the  Navajos  derived  the  foundations  of  their 
notions  about  their  goddess  "Assunnutli" — "the  woman  in  the  sea," 
from  the  Pueblos  who,  in  turn,  probably  had  them  from  more 
ancient  people,  or  directly  from  the  Aztecs.  The  name  is  plainly 
an  Aztec  word,  and  its  association  with  the  woman  in  the  sea  would 
be  improbable  from  a  Navajo  standpoint,  as  these  people  have  long 
lived  far  inland.  Crediting  her  with  having  given  blue  corn  to 
the  Navajo  men  and  white  corn  to  their  women  is  probably  an  idea 
of  their  own.  The  double  sexuality  attributed  to  Assunnutli  has 
its  parallel  in  more  than  one  ancient  Asiatic  belief,  and  figured  in 
the  primitive  Hebrew  conceptions  of  Jehovah.  The  Aztec  name 
for  the  sun  was  Nahuiatl,  and  it  has  been  supposed  that  Assunnutli 
was  a  moon-goddess;  the  full  moon's  rising  as  seen  from  the  coast 
of  Mexico  making  it  appear  that  the  goddess  was  coming  up  out 
of  the  sea  to  greet  her  faithful  worshipers. 

The  Navajo  legend  associated  with  their  abstinence  from  fish 
as  food  would  also  seem  to  have  an  Aztec  basis,  upon  which  was 
erected  the  story  about  the  bodies  of  enemies  killed  by  pioneer 
Navajos  having  turned  into  fish.  In  the  Aztec  legend  of  the  deluge 
we  are  told  that  ''when  the  sun  Nahuiatl  came  there  had  passed 
away  four  hundred  years,  plus  two  ages,  plus  seventy-six  years. 
Then  all  mankind  was  lost  and  drowned,  and  found  themselves 
changed  into  fish."  However  when  the  great  freshet  was  at  its 
height,  Ishtar  "wailed  like  a  child,"  and  cried,  saying  "I  am  the 
mother  who  gave  birth  to  men,  and,  like  the  race  of  fishes,  they 
are  filling  the  sea!" 


CONCLUSION.  139 

The  Navajos'  veneration  for  birds,  which  is  almost  equivalent 
to  a  worship  of  them,  and  the  belief  that  they  serve  as  messengers 
to  and  from  the  deities,  constitute  a  form  of  superstition  that  pre 
vailed  generally  among  our  Indian  tribes.  Probably  it  grew  out 
of  the  mysterious  power  of  such  creatures  to  rise  and  move  rapidly 
in  the  air  which,  to  the  untutored  mind,  afforded  no  support  to 
anything  having  weight,  and  offered  no  resistance  to  a  falling 
body,  as  when  one  dropped  from  a  tree  or  over  a  cliff,  which  had, 
no  doubt,  often  been  demonstrated  in  personal  experiences.  Seeing 
birds  soar  high  above  the  earth  would  naturally  lead  primitive  men 
to  the  conclusion  that  while  up  there  so  near  to  the  abode  of  the 
gods  they  would  certainly  have  opportunity  to  communicate  with 
them,  and  would  surely  do  so.  Possibly  Navajo  regard  for  birds 
may  be  imperfectly  connected  with  the  same  myth  that  has  given 
the  descendants  of  the  dove  which  bore  to  Noah  the  "pluckt  off" 
olive  branch  in  her  mouth,  something  like  a  sacred  place  in  our 
esteem.  Moreover  it  would  not  be  polite  in  us  to  smile  at  the 
Navajos'  bird-superstitions  while  we  attribute  to  the  piratical  eagle 
virtues  of  which  he  never  dreamt. 

Concerning  their  regard  for  the  bear  as  a  sacred  animal,  I 
have  nothing  to  add  on  my  own  account  to  what  has  been  said  in 
an  earlier  part  of  this  volume — that  it  is  probably  due  to  unhappy 
consequences  of  attacking  so  formidable  a  beast  with  the  ineffective 
weapons  they  possessed  in  early  times.  However  it  has  been  sug 
gested  to  me  that  if  our  Navajo  friends  really  are  of  Asiatic  descent, 
the  sacred  character  they  attribute  to  bears  may  be  in  recognition 
of  the  service  rendered  by  animals  of  that  species  in  avenging  the 
insult  twice  hurled  at  the  prophet  Elisha  by  the  little  children  who 
came  forth  out  of  Bethel  apparently  for  that  purpose.  But  I  dis 
claim  any  share  of  responsibility  for  this  theory. 

The  Navajos'  name  for  their  tribe,  "Tinnai"  or  "Tinneh," 
plainly  connects  them  with  the  Indians  of  the  northwestern  parts 
of  North  America,  and  some  people  think  thev  can  detect  in  it  an 


140  THE   NAVAJO  AND   HIS   BLANKET. 

Asiatic  flavor.  However  that  may  be,  the  word  is  identified  easily 
with  the  crude  languages  spoken  by  tribes  in  the  northwest,  includ 
ing  some  in  Alaska.  Its  definition,  "the  people,"  is  the  familiar 
one  that  was  self-assumed  by  most  of  our  other  western  Indians, 
also,  as  that  of  the  tribal  names  thev  bore.  Egotism  and  self-ad 
miration  persuaded  each  general  family  to  believe  and  proclaim  its 
people  as  "the  people,"  in  the  sense  of  being  the  great  people,  greater 
than  any  other,  the  "chosen  people"  of  an  appreciative,  and  perhaps 
a  partial,  Great  Spirit;  and  even  sub-divisions  of  families  asserted 
over  their  brethren  a  distinction  based  upon  the  same  exalted  theory. 
In  holding  to  this  complacent  and  perhaps  inspiring  belief  our 
Indians  were  not  alone  among  savage  or  barbarous  races  of  men. 

In  various  minor  customs,  beliefs,  and  practices  of  the  Navajos, 
in  which  are  included  their  ceremonies  in  dedicating  a  newly-built 
winter  hogan,  their  refusal  to  dwell  in  habitations  with  which  death 
is  associated,  their  sepulture  in  tomb-like  cists  and  in  caves  which 
is  attended  by  a  purpose  to  preserve  the  bodies,  and  their  use  of 
fetiches  to  increase  the  fecundity  of  their  domestic  animals — the 
latter,  which  is  not  a  custom  among  most  other  tribes  of  Indians, 
reminding  us  of  Jacob's  employment  of  a  fetich  to  bring  forth, 
"cattle  ringstreaked,  speckled,  and  spotted,"  at  the  expense  of 
Laban's  interest  in  the  flocks — there  might  also  seem  to  be  some 
hazy  reminiscences  of  ancient  life  in  far-eastern  lands. 

The  conservatism  and  intelligence  of  the  Navajos  may  entitle 
their  myths,  legends,  traditions,  and  so  forth  to  more  consider 
ation  than  should  be  given  those  of  inferior  tribes,  but  even  these 
do  not  serve  as  very  satisfactory  material  with  which  to  construct 
the  framework  of  their  history.  As  heretofore  mentioned,  their 
native  characteristics,  other  than  those  which  formerly  made  them 
warlike  and  persistent  marauders,  have  not  been  greatly  changed 
by  their  rather  exclusive  pastoral  life.  The  influences  of  civili 
zation  that  have  crept  to  the  borders  of  their  reservation  have  not 
seriously  disturbed  nor  spoiled  them,  and  notwithstanding  their 


CONCLUSION.  143 

present  somewhat  composite  physical  character  in  consequence  of  a 
limited  amalgamation  with  neighboring  tribes,  they  have  as  a  people 
retained  to  a  remarkable  degree  their  old-time  mental  traits  and 
habits  of  thought — they  are  still  Navajos. 

When  they  first  heard  of  the  white  man's  railroad  train  it  was 
hard  for  them  to  obtain  even  a  glimmer  of  comprehension  of  what 
it  possibly  could  be.  For  several  years  after  the  roads  penetrated 
the  general  region  in  which  their  reservation  is  situated,  a  popular 
Navajo  diversion  was  to  make  pilgrimages  in  parties  on  horseback 
tc  gaze  in  wonder,  from  a  presumably  safe  distance  (Figure  22), 
upon  the  strange,  dragon-like  object  which  rushed  along  upon  two 
narrow  streaks  of  metal  that  marked  a  slender  line  across  the 
country. 

It  is  to  be  deeply  regretted  that  so  much  of  the  history  of  the 
native  races  of  our  country  is  clouded  in  obscurity.  Indeed,  we 
know  very  little  about  it.  Study  of  our  Indian  people  was  long 
neglected,  and  many  opportunities  to  do  so  and  that  probably  would 
have  been  fruitful,  were  irretrievably  lost.  The  old  Indian  life 
which  permitted  the  tribes  to  roam  at  will  over  vast  areas  is  a  thing 
of  the  past  in  the  United  States,  and  the  changed  conditions  under 
which  these  people  are  now  living  are  working  among  most  of 
them  corresponding  great  changes  in  their  modes  of  life,  man 
ners,  customs,  beliefs,  and  in  everything  else  that  pertains  to  them. 

It  is  only  in  the  broad  empire  of  arid  territory  in  our  southwest 
that  we  may  now  find  the  native  tribes,  though  restrained  within 
definite  boundaries,  living  in  much  the  same  manner,  observing 
much  the  same  customs,  and  following1  much  the  same  daily  routine, 
that  they  did  long  before  the  reservation  system  had  begun  to  hedge 
about  and  revolutionize  Indian  life  and  character. 

It  is  also  in  that  empire  of  arid  wilderness  that  exist  in  pro 
fusion  the  ruined  great  memorials  and  countless  lesser  relics  of  a 
vanished  people  who  were  as  strange,  if  we  correctly  interpret  the 
testimony  of  what  they  left  there,  as  any  who  have  lived  upon  this 


144  THE   NAVAJO  AND   HIS   BLANKET. 

earth;  and  around  whose  history  and  fate  hangs  a  mystery  as 
puzzling  as  any  that  ever  shrouded  a  part  of  ancient  humanity.  The 
mystery  associated  with  the  Cliff  people  may  forever  remain  un 
solved,  but  the  region  in  which  they  once  lived,  and  the  peculiar 
tribes  which  abide  now  in  and  around  it,  will  long  afford  abundant 
material  for  fascinating  research  and  study  to  all  who  are  interested 
in  the  history  of  the  human  race. 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

ENVIRONMENT^.  DESIGN  LIBRA]-' 


This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below,  or 
on  the  date  to  which  renewed. 
Renewed  books  are  subject  to  immediate  recall. 
r::.-_    4       ioin 

MOV  17  1964 

|-|VX4      *f              I  Wf 

„ 

MAY  2  8  1971 

jj£R2TtSB6 

MAR  22  1972 
wnv  ln  ' 

OCT  6     1966 

Nuv  •»* 

JftN    31966 

jury            5  9 

,'  1  3  1357 

m  ii~  f\        4QC7 

.11  IN  12  1974 

AUG  3     196' 

DEC  1  0  138! 

AUG  2  8  1967 

MAY  2  0  1925 

^V  2  8  1Qft7 

ncAcU61J1935 

HFC     4  1963 

n  t  L/  t  i  v  E  u 

DEC  23  i.qfig 

vOi/  l6'85'i  PM 

FEB  i  5  1970 

SNVI  DES 

*MR  1  3  1970 

APR  1  3  1071 

^Vs^i4^            u-SggSK-i. 

